Way Too Deep
by valele
Summary: AU. Shane Gray disappeared five years ago, and when he comes back, Mitchie Torres, a reporter at Pop Informer, gets the assignment of the 'Shane Gray story'.
1. prologue

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing. At least, not outside my dreams. **

**'Ello, everyone! This is my first full-length in a while, but I love the idea, so I'm going to try pretty hard to finish it. I don't want to explain too much about it, because I will later on in the story.**

**July 2013**

_For five years, people have wondered- where did Shane Gray go? The ex-lead singer of the famous band, Connect 3, disappeared mysteriously after the last concert of their sold-out tour, Play My Music, in 2008. Now Pop Informer has the inside scoop on his mysterious disappearance and what he's been doing in our Aug. '13 issue, in stores July 15__th__._

I shuddered as I read this on the magazine's website. I still couldn't believe I'd gotten myself in such a mess- after all, it all started with one interview, nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, though, this was an interview I was doing with the famous Shane Gray, and not just an interview, but also his return to the music industry.

Considering this, I guess you could say it wasn't just an interview. It was a huge interview, and just the fact that I'd gotten it was pretty awesome, especially since I'd just started my career as a journalist.

How was I supposed to know this would happen? I mean, whenever I got an assignment, it didn't say anything about having to work with a cute rock star, or getting romantically involved, it just told me the assignment. So if you tell me that maybe I shouldn't have accepted the interview, all I can say is, I had no freakin' clue what was going to happen. Okay? Okay.

Cait warned me, though, that she thought this was weird. She said, and I quote: "This is weird, Mitch."

Seriously?! This is weird? That's all? If she'd been more specific, maybe I would have listened to her. But since she said it as if she was talking about a show or a movie or a book, I didn't think anything of it.

So now here I am, stuck way deep in this whole mess. Too deep, if you ask me. But, hey, what's done is done, right?

No. Not right. I guess you have no idea what I'm talking about, though. Maybe I should go back to when it all started- with that stupid email back in May.

**So there it was! What'd you think? You know, there's this one button that does an amazing thing... It takes you to the review window! **

**And as a writer, I'd greatly appreciate some constructive criticism, or even just some feedback. So please, please, please, review, 'kay? I promise to answer! **

**Reviews mean a ton to me, and I'd love it if you could tell me why you liked/hated the story. It all just helps me improve as a writer.**


	2. chapter 1

**Here's the first chapter! Sitting down and writing this was kind of hard, because I didn't really know how to start. I have a ton of ideas for this story, but as usual, I couldn't really pick one and stick with it. Well, until now. Anyway, I don't work for a magazine, especially not for a gossip one, so I don't know how everything works. I do know some things about being a journalist, because I'm in newspaper, so it won't be completely made up, but obviously, there's a huge difference between a high school newspaper and a gossip magazine. Capisce? **

Chapter 1

**May, 2013**

"Congratulations, Torres. You got it."

I look up at my editor, confused, as she puts down a folder on my desk. "Got what?"

"The story," she says, walking away. I grab the folder and open it, and the first thing I see is a copy of the story I sent everyone on the staff by accident. I wanted to send it to Cait, and my computer threw a hissy fit and sent it to everyone. Nice, huh?

I look at the next thing in the folder, which was an assignment page, which basically said everything I needed to know for my story. And there, in big, bold black letters, it said 'Shane Gray'. So that was what she meant when she said the story. Wow.

I get up from my desk and walk over to Caitlyn's, which is a few rows over. As usual, the office is hectic, with people running around and yelling into their phones or to each other, so I walk close to the walls of the cubicles, trying to avoid as many people as I can.

"Cait!" I exclaim as soon as I get to her desk. "Look, look!" I throw the folder on her desk, and watch her expression as she reads. It goes from confused, to happy, to (somewhat) jealous.

"Wow, Mitchie," she finally says. "That's great!"

I nod excitedly. "I know! I mean, can you believe it? My first big assignment!"

She looks at me confused, and repeats what I said. "Your first big assignment?" I nod again. "No, you idiot, I meant meeting Shane Gray!"

I frown at her. Did she really think I'd care about meeting Shane Gray? I mean, the guy's just another pop star who pulled the disappearing card, then came back, expecting the same fame. And besides, his music wasn't really that good. Well, except for their last CD. But no, I didn't care about meeting Shane Gray. I cared about getting a name around here! I wasn't just going to be that cute new girl anymore, I was going to be the reporter who got the Shane Gray story!

"No, Cait, that's not the point!" I look at her, wondering why she thinks it's such a big deal. I gasp as it hits me. "Are you a Connect 3 closet fan?"

Caitlyn shook her head quickly. "Not really. If you'd seen my room back home, you'd call me anything _but_ a closet fan."

"Oh," I stated simply, not knowing what to say. I always thought Cait had such unique taste in music, and here she was, confessing her love for Connect 3. I always thought they were too much of a cookie-cutter pop star band.

-WTD-

As I got to my desk the next morning, I set down my stuff and sat on the chair, turning on the computer. I was surprised to see a message in my inbox. I opened it curiously, wondering who would've emailed me, when I thought of checking the sender's email address. _Duh,_ I thought, wanting to smack my forehead. It was from my editor. She was emailing me to ask if I'd called Shane to set an appointment for our interview. When I emailed her back, I decided it might be wiser to wait a few minutes to answer, call Shane, schedule the appointment, and then answer. I grab my phone, and dialed the number. In the folder, my editor had added a little note saying I was contacting him directly, because he didn't have a press manager anymore, seeing as he'd disappeared and was starting out from the bottom now.

The first time I tried, I got a busy tone. I tried again not a second later, tapping my foot impatiently. I didn't have time to just wait for him to answer whenever he felt like it! Hello, I'm on a schedule here.

"Hello?" I hear, not realizing he'd picked up. He says it again. "Hello?"

"Yes, hi, is this Mr. Gray?" he laughs quietly when he hears me calling him Mr. Gray. "This is Micaela Torres. I work for Pop Informer, and I need to schedule our appointment for the interview. I'm available anytime this week from 9 in the morning to five in the afternoon."

"How does tomorrow at 11 AM sound?" I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me.

"Tomorrow at 11 it is. Do you have any place you're prefer for us to meet?"

"Actually, there is one place. I'll give you the address, okay?" I quickly jotted it down, wondering where the hell he wanted me to go.

After we hung up, I spent the rest of the day working on some briefs, and then went out to lunch with Cait. We were analyzing the conversation I had with Shane Gray on the phone bit by bit, like teenage girls do when they talk to their crushes. It was just like being fifteen again, and Cait and I had a blast.

Once we were done discussing Shane Gray, I decided to bring up her date from last night. She'd gotten home really late, and refused to tell me about him until 'things were more official'. "So, Cait," I started. "Are things more official yet?" She looked at me as if she knew I was going to ask her.

"Well," she said, blushing madly. "Sort of."

"What happened?" I asked curiously. Caitlyn _never_ blushed. "Are you gonna tell me his name now?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I wanna make sure it's going where I think it's going. I just don't want him to be another Greg, you know?" I nodded, remembering her old boyfriend that dumped her for this blond bimbo, and decided to drop the subject, but Caitlyn continued talking. "I won't tell you his name, but I will tell you about last night." I grinned widely, and she started telling her story.

-WTD-

The next day, I was a nervous mess as I took a cab to where I was meeting Shane Gray. No, I wasn't nervous about meeting him! I was just nervous because this was my first big assignment. Caitlyn already had a name as cool review chick, but I was almost as lowly as an intern. I'd been asked for coffee a couple of times, in fact.

I walked into a music store with the name 'Think Music'. It was decorated with a cool mod theme, and there was a little café inside. I walked past the CDs, past a wall decorated with famous records, and sat down on a table, looking around me. There was no one else sitting down, and only a couple of customers in the store. I was going to have to bring Caitlyn back- she'd love this place. It definitely didn't look like a big, company-owned place, though. In fact, it was quite cozy in a cool way.

As I organized my things, getting ready for the interview, I heard someone clear their throat in front of me. I looked up to see Shane Gray, looking a lot older and, well, I have to admit, seriously hot, standing by the table. I stood up quickly to shake his hand, then sat down again. He sat down too, and looked at me expectantly.

"Hi, Mr. Gray," I started, but he interrupted.

"Please, don't call me that. You're making me feel old." I ignored his comment, and then continued.

"Okay, then," I said. "Well, my name is Micaela Torres. I'm the reporter from Pop Informer." He nodded, and I kept talking. "Before we start, I'd like to tell you that I'm a journalist and not a gossip writer. I fully understand, respect, and follow the journalism code of ethics." He looked confused, so I explained more. "What I mean is that I won't write anything you didn't say. I won't take your words out of context. If you say something is off-the-record, this little recorder here," I showed him my recorder, "will stop. I will write a completely honest article, and I'll even show it to you before sending it in, if you want. I'm a no-nonsense journalist, and I take my job very seriously."

"Wow," was all he said once I was done. "You're the most honest reporter I've ever met."

"Thank you," I answered simply. "Just curious, but what is this place?"

He laughed at my bluntness, then replied: "It's my music shop. I bought it from a couple who was moving across the country five years ago, and I've been working on it ever since. It's had a lot of remodeling, though. The whole theme of it was my idea." I was surprised by this, and quickly connected it to the facts I knew about him and his disappearance. He must've bought it around the time he quit the band, then. No wonder no one knew where he was. I looked down at my notepad, then looked up at him. "Shall we start?"

-WTD-

The interview went really well, and by the end of it, I'd found out more about Shane Gray than any other reporter probably ever had. Needless to say, I was very happy with the results. I have to admit, I even liked him a bit more.

We were almost done when he said he wanted to ask me something. "It's off-the-record, though." I nodded, then turned the recorder off. "I was wondering if you'd like to get coffee sometime."

I guess I looked surprised, because he quickly backtracked. "It's okay if you don't want to. _Shit_. I mean, crap. I shouldn't have so forward, should I? I haven't done this in so long, it's probably completely unprofessional of you, and I still asked you, even after you said you were no-nonsense and all those things you-" I interrupted his monologue.

"That would be nice," I said. It's been a while since a guy's asked me out and I said yes- I must have been blushing madly.

"Really?" he said, looking just as surprised as I did.

I nodded, and gathered my things, before jotting down my cell number on a napkin. "Call me, okay?" He nodded, somewhat numbly, and I stood up, getting ready to leave. I put a five dollar bill on the table, but he grabbed it and gave it back to me.

"It's on the house," he said. I smiled politely, still blushing from his impromptu asking me out, and walked away from the table. He followed me, walking me to the door, I suppose.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," I said.

"Yes, yes, it was. Nice to meet you, I mean." Then, someone called him from the other side of the store, so after an awkward good bye, I left and he went to find whoever called him.

--

**And there it is! I hope you liked it. Next chapter will be up as soon as possible, but I can't promise much. Depends on how fast I write it. I do know that in the next chapter, you'll see Mitchie's date with Shane Gray, and there's going to be more about Caitlyn. I don't know how long I want it to be, but I definitely want to set a goal. Otherwise, it'll drag out and I'd never finish it. **

**Now, see that little button down there, on the lower left corner? It's pretty nifty, isn't it? Now go press it and leave me some love. Or some useful criticism. Just don't say 'it's cute' or 'loved/liked it'. I mean, you can, but just tell me WHY. That's when reviews are useful. And if you have any ideas, feel free to leave them. Okay, long author's note over. See you at the review window!**


	3. chapter 2

**Here we go, second chapter of Way Too Deep. Thanks to everyone for the amazing reviews, you guys rock! See you at the bottom of the page!**

Chapter 2

I walked into the apartment that day feeling like I was floating on a cloud. Or walking on a cloud, whichever expression it was. I hadn't seen Caitlyn when I got back to the office because she had a show to review today, so she didn't know anything about the interview. I was looking forward to telling Cait what happened, because I knew she was going to be really excited for me. I was home early, but I figured she'd be home, so imagine my surprise when I saw her, on the couch, making out with some random guy!

A second later, I realized that the random guy was mystery guy who she'd gone out with several times. I cleared my throat, seeing they hadn't realized I'd walked in on them. Instantly, Cait sat up, and he did too. She smiled at me, kind of embarrassed, but not at all compared to mystery guy, who turned beet red right away. I guess he can't be such a bad guy if he's embarrassed because I saw them making out, right?

"Hi, Mitchie," Cait said, smiling sheepishly. She buttoned her shirt, which I hadn't noticed was half unbuttoned, and stood up, trying to fix her hair. He stood up, too, putting on a jacket that had been discarded to the floor, and smiled politely at me.

I took a good look at him and decided he looked familiar. I just couldn't figure out where I'd seen him before, and it was bugging me. I extended my hand and said: "Hi, I'm Mitchie." Deciding to torture my friend a bit, I added, "You must be mystery guy. Cait doesn't shut up about you!"

Cait looked embarrassed, and he laughed quietly, looking at her. "You don't shut up about me? Really?" She ignored him, and continued to fix her hair, which was a mess. I guess it's what happens when you have curly hair, huh?

"Hi, I'm Nate," he said. "Caitlyn's told me a lot about you, too."

I raised my eyebrows, and asked: "What has she said?"

That was when Caitlyn chose to return to the conversation. She mumbled a "nothing", and pushed him to the door. He waved apologetically at me, and I waved back, smiling widely. I was going to have so much fun with this!

Caitlyn turned to me, and waited for me to start the make fun of Caitlyn fest. While I was deciding where to start, I saw my Connect 3 CD on the counter, and that was when I realized where I knew Nate from.

"Nate Black!" I exclaimed. Caitlyn looked surprised to no end to see me yell out her name's date and not something to make fun of her for. "You're going out with Nate Black, from Connect 3!"

She nodded, and looked down. When I didn't say anything else, she looked up at me, and asked: "Aren't you going to make fun of me? Something like, haha, you're going out with a cookie-cutter popstar dude?"

I shook my head. "Why would I make fun of you dating Nate Black when I have a date with Shane Gray?"

As soon as I said that, Cait's eyes widened in surprise and she squealed incredibly loud. Once she was done shrieking, we sat down on the couch and discussed every little detail of her lunch date with Nate (and how they found their way to the apartment) and my interview with Shane Gray and our upcoming date.

-WTD-

The next day was spent entirely writing the article for the magazine. Just the figuring out what questions I was using took me the entire morning, and when Cait and I went out to lunch, I was exhausted. She said that she and Nate had gone to this really cute little café the day before, and she wanted to show it to me. On our way there, I was so out of it I didn't realize we were on the same street as Shane Gray's store until we'd gotten off the cab. I did remember, however, that it was only a couple of blocks from where we were eating, so I decided to take Caitlyn there afterwards.

We walked into the restaurant, and the first thing I noticed was Nate sitting on one of the tables, eating with a guy that looked really familiar. I was willing to bet that it was Jason Green, the third member of Connect 3. How is it I went from being nobody to being the girl who (sort of) knew all of Connect 3, even after their break up?

"Nate!" Caitlyn exclaimed, looking ten times more excited. "What are you doing here?"

He looked up, surprised. "Hey, Caitlyn! I wasn't expecting to see you here. Hi, Mitchie." I nodded at him while he continued talking. "Well, Jason and I have lunch here every week. To catch up and all that."

"Hi, I'm Jason!" said the other guy. He waved excitedly, and I decided instantly I liked him. Caitlyn and I went to get our lunch, and then sat down on the chairs the guys had pulled up for us. Nate and Caitlyn talked in that way people who are dating do (which I hope I never do), so Jason and I had nothing left to do but to talk each other. Not that I minded, though. He was very easy to talk to. We were talking about birdhouses (apparently, he collects them) and how he always asked Shane to build him one but he never did.

I nodded but didn't say anything when I heard him mention Shane Gray- I didn't know how things were with them. Of course, I knew the band had broken up because they each wanted to do different things- Shane Gray had the store, I think Nate was acting on Broadway, and Jason was a music teacher at an elementary school nearby. They were all within the five-mile radius of each other, and Jason and Nate came to this café, only a couple of blocks from Shane's store, regularly, so I was guessing they saw each other every once in a while.

-WTD-

Once we were done with lunch, Jason and Nate headed their own ways (not without Jason and I seeing Caitlyn and Nate make out, of course) and Caitlyn and I decided the day was too nice to take a cab back to the office. After all, it was only five blocks, and walking is "extremely good for us", as Caitlyn said.

That was when I remembered my plan to take Caitlyn to Shane Gray's store. We still had another thirty minutes of our lunch break left, and we could always just say we were out working on our stories or something- it's not like they could prove it otherwise. Besides, I was going to my interviewee's store, and Cait was going to a music store, so it could pass for work easily, right?

"Hey, Caitlyn, I wanna show you something," I said.

"What is it?" she said.

"It's Shane Gray's music store, where we met for the interview." I answered, walking towards the store.

She looked surprised, but still excited. When we got there, I held the door for some lady that was leaving the store. She looked about our age, maybe a couple of years older, and she smiled politely as she left. Right after her came a little girl, who looked about four years old.

"Bye, Daddy!" she screamed as she ran out of the store. I looked at her, smiling fondly. Little kids were so adorable!

"Bye, Lisa" I heard someone say. I looked up and found myself looking at Shane Gray.

**So, you guys like? Would this be considered a cliffy? You should press that fantastilistic button way down there on the left of the screen. Yeah? Okay? Okay. Anyway, now I finally introduced the mystery man, but I'm sure most of you knew who he was, and Jason's here too! Yay! We can have a party! Okay, done now. Review, please, please, please with the boys on top? **


	4. chapter 3

**I love you guys so much, I took the computer from my brother (well, he'd been on since 2, and it was 8 when I got him off, what do you expect?) and I sat down to write you a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you at the bottom! Oh, and I know at the end of chapter 1 I said I'd put in Mitchie and Shane's date, but I forgot. So when I say that stuff, ignore me. Thank you : **

Chapter 3

As soon as Shane Gray saw us, he said: "I can explain." I nodded at him, waiting for this explanation, trying to block all the thoughts that were coming into my head. I knew that once I listened to them, I'd get mad, not let him explain, and just leave without knowing what was going on.

"This is completely off-record, by the way," he said before starting. "The thing is, the real reason why Connect 3 broke up was because I quit because I was going to have a kid, and I didn't want to have her in the spotlight, and Nate and Jason didn't want to replace me, so we each did our own thing." He took a deep breath, and continued: "I'm not married, or even dating Lisa's mom. We just have a civil relationship because of our daughter; otherwise, we wouldn't see each other. Now, if you don't feel comfortable dating a dad, then it's your choice, and we don't have to date. If you still want to go out with me, I'd appreciate you interrupting my incessant rambling and just tell me so I can stop feeling so guilty."

I nodded numbly, still shocked from his "confession". He looked at me expectantly. "Well, say something!"

Caitlyn nudged me, bringing me back to reality. "I… I still wanna, you know, go out, I just didn't, um, know, or, well, expect you, to be, you know, a dad, with a daughter and all, I mean, of course, you'd have a daughter, you can't not have one and be a dad, but yeah, I, um, I'm just going to shut up now," I blush deeply, and he laughs softly.

"Thanks for listening to me," he says. I nod, and Caitlyn, who was still standing by me, said she was going to look at some stuff.

"So what brings you to my store?" he asks. We walk over to the café and sit down, like we did for the interview.

"Well, my friend Caitlyn, the girl that was with me, she's a music reviewer. She reviews bands, concerts, music stores, anything with music, and since we went to lunch with her boyfriend to a café nearby, I brought her here," Shane Gray nodded as he got up and went behind the counter to serve us some coffee. I was surprised he remembered what kind of coffee I drink, but apparently, he did.

We kept talking for about fifteen minutes until Caitlyn found us and reminded me we needed to go or we might get in trouble. As we were leaving, I asked him: "So am I going to have to wait until you call me, or can I just tell you I'm free tomorrow night?"

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows, surprised to see me being so unusually bold. Shane looked a bit surprised too, but he smirked and said: "How about we meet here tomorrow night around seven?"

This caught my attention, as music stores aren't a usual place for dates. "Is this where our date is going to be? Because if it is, I'd have to say I thought you'd know about where not to take someone out on a date."

He shook his head as he said, "No, I just want you to meet me here, and then we'll go to where we're going on the date."

I pursed my lips and thought about what he said. "Why don't we go the old-school way, and you pick me up at my apartment?"

After he agreed and I wrote down our address on a piece of paper, Caitlyn and I went back to work. I could hardly contain my excitement because I was starting to like this guy more and more, and I couldn't wait until our date the next day.

**I'm so sorry this chapter is short, but I'm totally stuck, I have a headache, I'm exhausted, and my stupid seven-year-old brother decided that since he was cold, he was just going to turn up the AC, and now it's really hot in my house. I'll try and see if I can get the next chapter up tomorrow, but I'm going to be sleeping over at a friend's house, so I might not be able to. Please review, okay?**


	5. chapter 4

**Now that my AC is back to normal, I decided I'd write the next chapter. I'm going to be sleeping over at a friend's house, so I might not be able to have the next chapter up for the next couple of days. Oh, and have you guys heard Miley Cyrus' new CD? I love it, my sister bought it on iTunes and I've been listening to it since.**

Chapter 4

When we got back to work, I was surprised to see that most people in the office were starting to recognize me as 'girl with the Shane Gray story'. In fact, some people were even saying hi to us. And to think that the day before, we were nobodies!

Needless to say, this made us very happy. Once I was back at my desk, I turned on my computer and checked my mail. I had an email from someone I'd never heard of. Curiously, I opened it, hoping it wasn't a virus or anything like that.

"_Torres,_" it started. "_I want a copy of your story on my desk by tomorrow morning. I also want whatever recordings or notes you have of your interview. Some changes might be made, but you have no say in this, so I don't want to hear a peep._" The email was signed _Vanessa_, and I knew immediately who it was from. Vanessa was my editor. I sighed, and continued the work on my story. I knew which questions I was using, and I'd written part of the beginning of the article, but I kept rewriting it because I wanted my first big piece to be the best it can be.

Until it was time to leave, I wrote and rewrote the story, over and over, trying to find the best one of them all. I know I shouldn't be worrying so much, but this was a pretty big deal and if I messed it up, well, things wouldn't turn out to be so pretty.

I did find one approach I liked, though, so when Caitlyn and I left, I tried to avoid thinking about it and concentrate on the task at hand- shopping for the perfect date outfit.

-WTD-

After leaving the office, Caitlyn and I went shopping, because according to Caitlyn "this was so huge it deserved a special shopping trip". We went to several stores, but it wasn't until we were at this cute little boutique that we found the perfect outfit. Well, Cait found it- I was looking through a rack absently, not exactly paying attention to the clothes in front of me. In fact, I was thinking about Shane more than I was looking at the clothes.

"Mitchie!" she called. She came over, looking excited. "Look at this dress!"

She was holding a brown bubble dress, with a beaded halter strap that looked like a necklace and spaghetti straps. It was love at first sight, even before I tried it on. Once I did, though, I knew I had to buy it. It was possibly the cutest dress I'd ever seen, and not to brag or anything, but I looked amazing in it.

Once we were home, Caitlyn and I set to decide how to do my hair and make up- another important part of getting ready for a date. I usually don't wear make up because I'd rather sleep more in the morning, so even a little bit of make up makes me look completely different.

Since the dress was brown, we went with a natural look- a bit of foundation, blush, a swipe of mascara, brown eye-shadow a tone darker than my skin, and some lip gloss. I'd have to reapply it, but I hated the taste of lipstick, so I was fine with that.

For my hair, we decided to just leave down, curl a few strands of hair, and leave my bangs down. I used to have bangs across my forehead, but I long since changed them, and they were now side-swept.

While I stepped out of my work outfit and into the dress, and asked Caitlyn to zip me up, I could hardly contain my excitement. This was my first big date in a while, and even though I was nervous, that still didn't bring me down. A bit more excitement and I'd be jumping up and down like a teenager at a concert.

-WTD-

The doorbell rang at 7 PM sharp, and Caitlyn answered the door while I waited anxiously in my room. Cait and I had both agreed he was to come in and chat for a while with her- otherwise, Caitlyn wouldn't be able to tell if she approved or not.

I walked out of my room, from where I could see the door. Shane Gray was standing there, looking really nice in black dress pants with a green button down. He was talking to Caitlyn, and he'd just made her laugh- I could tell right away he had her approval, because Caitlyn doesn't laugh when she's meeting someone for the first time unless she really likes them.

Caitlyn saw me first, and she looked pleased with the results. Shane turned around when he realized Caitlyn had stopped listening to him, and saw me in the room.

I could've sworn I saw his jaw drop, even if it was a little bit. "Wow, Mitchie, you look beautiful," he said, in a full sentence. If there was one thing that drove me insane about the guys I dated was when they weren't able to compliment me without stuttering through the sentence or being speechless. Yes, it's a nice effect- in a romance novel.

"Thanks," I grinned at him, feeling happier than I'd felt in a while. Caitlyn nodded at me, her way of telling me we were free to go, since he'd gotten her approval already. She gave me a hug before we left, wishing me good luck.

As we left the apartment, Shane offered me his arm, and I took it gladly, wondering how on earth I'd found such a gentleman. Outside, Shane had a cab waiting.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, curious as to where he was taking me.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," he answered, smirking at me.

"Aw, c'mon, tell me!" I nagged him. He shook his head, smiling still. For a minute, we were quiet, and I took the time to look at him, comparing him to his Connect 3 days. He looked older, and his hair was shorter than back then. **(A/N: Think Joe in the fall 2007, not too short, but not as long as it is now)** His eyes had a playful gleam to them, as if he was always thinking of pranks to play on people. Never in a million years would I have imagined going on a date with the bad boy of the press back in 2008.

A sudden stop brought me out of my deep thoughts, and Shane and I got out of the cab. I looked around, trying to remember if I'd been here before. We were at a small restaurant, and once we went in, I could tell it was not American at all. The place smelled wonderful, the way my Abuela's kitchen smelled whenever we had a family reunion.

"Is this a Spanish restaurant?" I asked, looking around. The lights were low, as if to create an ambient, and the decorations weren't as in-your-face as some restaurants are. Everything was of a maroon tone, some things being a darker shade of red, and some things orange.

The restaurant had a really nice vibe, and I immediately knew the food had to be just as good. Call it a sixth-sense, but it was something I'd inherited from my mom, seeing as she owned her own catering company.

Shane nodded, and a hostess appeared to take us to our table. As we sat down, I looked at the tables by ours, and saw several famous people. I tried to hold my excitement, considering I should be used to this, being a journalist and all, but it was hard to act nonchalant when Hannah Montana was sitting at the table next to us with Jake Ryan.

"Is that Drew Barrymore?" I asked him, looking at a table a few from ours.

He laughed and looked at the table too, then nodded.

"Don't laugh at me! I'm not some super famous pop star who hangs out with famous people all day!"

After I say this, he frowns at me, and I remember he's been out of the spotlight for five years now. I mumble an apology and look at the menu. One side is all in Spanish, and I can easily read it, so I decide to order from that side, just to get a kick out of Shane.

"So, I think I'm going to have the _paella_," I say. "Or maybe… I don't know, the _migas _sound good, too." He looks at me surprised as I read off names of dishes on the menu.

"I didn't know you speak Spanish," he said.

"Micaela Torres is a completely Spanish name. My mom was born in Spain, and moved over here for college. When I was born, my parents talked to me in Spanish all the time, and once I started school, we had a no English rule in our house. Besides, if I didn't know Spanish, I wouldn't survive at our family reunions." He looked at me questioningly, and I explained: "Big, big family."

He nodded, then looked down at the menu again. "What do you suggest, then?" As I told him what he should order, a waitress came over and asked what we wanted. She barely even glanced at me before she started flirting with Shane. I sat there shooting daggers with my eyes at her while he tried to smile politely and do anything but lead her on.

_Thank God for gentlemen_, I thought. Once we were done ordering, the waitress left, but not before winking at Shane. I gagged, and Shane tried to hold his laugh.

"What is _wrong_ with these waitresses? Every single time I go on a date, the waitress flirts with the guy I'm with. Do I not pose a threat to them or something?" I said as he smiled, obviously amused by my ranting.

"You're ten times prettier than that waitress. I think it's just that waitresses don't care who the guy's with. It could be a family, and as long as the father's 'cute', they'll flirt," he said, using air quotes around the 'cute'.

I laughed, agreeing with him. "So tell me more about you," I said. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't argue with me.

**Sorry to end it like that, but my friend's waiting for me. You got a sneak peek of the date, sort of. I hope you liked it, and even though I've been a sucky author the past couple of days, please review!**


	6. chapter 5

**Since my friend and I don't do anything besides being on the computer (sad, isn't it?) I thought I'd continue my story. At the time I'm writing this, I have 49 reviews for this story, which is kind of, sort of disappointing (not that I'm mad at you guys or anything) because I wanted to break 50 with chapter 4, and I still haven't. I was looking at the hits for my stories, and if every single person that read this story reviewed (even with 'so cute'), I'd have over 1000 reviews for some of the stories. Wouldn't that be amazing? **

**And before I go on to the chapter, I wanted to give a shout out to a couple of people who have been with me since the beginning of this story: Admiral Lily, summersgirl2526, Kt luvs, brookieebabbyy, and monko25. Guys, thank you so much for being awesome reviewers (not that the rest of you aren't). And I'd like to give a special thank you to blonde-gal and HSMTroypay07 because they give me the most amazing reviews and make me feel way better for not having long chapters, like, ever. And last, but not least,  
D R O W N-I N-S E Q U I N S, even though she might not see this, for being an amazing friend and listening to me ramble about the boys even though she doesn't like them. Thanks to every single person who has read this story, because trust me, it wouldn't be here without you (as cheesy as that sounds!).**

**Now, I'm done with my incredibly long author's note. Oh, wait, false alarm. The 50****th**** reviewer will be Jason's love interest. I should know who it'll be soon enough.**

Chapter 5

"So you just took it?" I ask, laughing hysterically. Shane was telling me a story about how he once took a friend's shoe, just so he could watch his friend look all over the house for it. **(A/N: Everyone thank Mrs. Meyers (My friend's mom) for that delightful story. I couldn't think of anything, so I asked her and that's what she came up with)**

"Yep. And once I got tired of watching him look for it, I just put it in his room, where it was when I took it," he says, smiling at the memory. "The look on his face when he found it was hilarious! It was priceless."

I shake my head, still laughing a bit. After I calm down, the awkwardness comes back, as it had been doing throughout the entire dinner. We had a nice conversation going, but once we exhausted one subject, there was an awkward silence, until one of us thought of something else. It was quite annoying, to tell you the truth, but I didn't know what to do about it.

We were ordering dessert when the flirty (whorish if you ask me) waitress struck again, batting her eyelashes and leaning in, talking to Shane in a tone that made me want to hit her in the face.

I smile sweetly at her, clearing my throat. "Hey! Hi. I don't know if you've noticed, but this entire night, he's been sitting with me. Talking to me, you know, his date? So I'd appreciate it if you would just go flirt with some other guy and leave us alone. Okay? Thanks." I hand her my menu, saying what I want, and Shane follows my example. She looks at him as if she was expecting him to say something, to tell me to leave and invite her to stay, but he doesn't even look at her while he gave her the menu. I wave at her, and she stomps away. I then turn to Shane, and smile at him, relieved she's gone.

"That was the nicest telling-off I've ever heard," he says laughing. I'm still smiling proudly as he continues discussing my telling off the waitress.

Our desserts come and we eat them while in the midst of a heated discussion about Sponge Bob. You see, Shane said (and I quote) that "he's the funniest little dude ever", but I disagree. What's so funny about a yellow sponge that can talk and works at a fast food restaurant? To be completely honest, I've never really seen it, but I knew about it enough to stress my point – that it was stupid.

"You can't say you don't like Sponge Bob if you've never seen it!" he exclaims.

"Well, it… it sounds stupid!" I answer, and he shakes his head at me.

"You know?" he starts. I look at him expectantly. "I'm disappointed in you, Mitchie Torres. You don't want to watch one of the best shows ever created because it sounds stupid?"

I open my mouth to say something, then close it when I can't think of anything. "What would it be like if people say no to stuff because it sounds stupid? If people had told the Wright brothers that flying a plane sounded stupid, so they shouldn't do it? If someone had told -" I interrupted him before he could keep going.

"Okay, okay, I get it! I'll watch it with you if it'll make you so happy." I rolled my eyes while Shane grinned widely; he was clearly happy he won his argument.

"Good, then. We can go to my place after this and watch Sponge Bob so I can prove to you that it's an amazing show and you're going to love it," he says, and I blush at the thought of going to his apartment so soon.

I know that's not what he means, but I can't help it. I'm like that, I guess. He sees me blushing, and immediately explains that he really did mean watching Sponge Bob, and not something else.

Until now, the thought of what might happen after the date hadn't crossed my mind – I was too busy having fun. But now I can't help but wonder if he thinks we're going to have sex. I guess you could say that since he explained that we really are going to watch Sponge Bob, I shouldn't worry.

I like the guy a lot, but I'm definitely not ready to sleep with him. But kissing him wouldn't be so bad, though. I imagine feeling his lips on mine, his hands on my waist, pulling me closer to him, and I almost remember why I used to go out with so many guys.

But I've changed since then – I'm not the kind of girl to sleep around. Not that I ever was, but I used to be a lot more relaxed about hooking up with guys. Now? Well, now, I turned into the kind of person who works then goes home, does nothing else, ever. That was why Caitlyn said this was such a big deal – because the last date I went on wasn't even a date; it was a party.

"Mitchie, you still there?" I hear Shane's voice, and then I see his hand waving at me. I come back to reality, a little dazed from my trip down Memory Lane.

"Yeah, sorry," I say. He doesn't answer and just stares at me intently.

"What?!" I ask.

"You look funny when you think," he answers. I gasp, not knowing whether to be offended or not. "What were you thinking about?"

"I… you… Nothing," I say, blushing again. "It doesn't matter,"

"If you say so," he answers. After the waitress (a different one, thank God) brings our check and he pays, he says, "Well, shall we go?"

I nod and get up, grabbing my jacket and waiting for him by the table. "Hey," I start. Once I see I have his attention, I continue, "Why don't we go to my apartment to watch Sponge Bob? Caitlyn might like it, too."

"Sure. I just need to swing by my apartment and get the DVD," he says.

I burst out laughing when I hear him say that and he looks at me questioningly. "You have a Sponge Bob DVD?" I ask, still laughing.

"Well, I have a four-year-old, and man, does she love that little yellow dude," he answers. I stay quiet, not knowing what to say. I hadn't forgotten about Lisa, but it was still weird to think he had a kid, but he told me a bit about her during dinner.

"Okay, then," I say, feeling embarrassed. "So…"

"So..." he repeats.

"Tell me more about Lisa," I reply.

"Well, she's four years old, she loves Sponge Bob, dressing up, Connect 3, and playing with her dolls. She's the cutest little kid ever," he says. His eyes light up when he talks about her, making it obvious how much he loves her. "The other day, she was staying with me for a couple of days while her mom went on a business trip, and in the morning, I woke up to find her making a fort out of the living room couch pillows and her bed sheets. It was actually pretty well-built, and she even had a little 'room' for me so I could visit her,"

I laugh at this. "My cousin is a couple of years younger than me, and we used to do that kind of thing when we were kids."

"There's so much to play with when you're a kid. They have so much imagination anything is possible for them." I nod, agreeing with what he said.

Once we get to his apartment, he lets us in and flicks the light on at the entrance. He walks into a room on the right of the front door, and comes out a second later holding the Sponge Bob DVD.

"That was fast," I say. He grins, and grabs my hand, taking me to the door.

He stops suddenly and asks: "Do you want to see the rest of the apartment?"

"Sure, why not?" I say, and he turns around without letting go of my hand, and then takes me into the room he'd just gone into.

"This is out TV room," he says as he turns on the light. A huge flat screen TV is the first thing I see, and then I notice the posters of Connect 3's album covers. There's a lot of fancy equipment in there, but I don't get a chance to look at it as he ushers me out of the room.

He shows me the kitchen, the living room (where the fort is still up) and a bathroom before taking me to Lisa's room. It's a really nice room, with light blue walls, purple covers on the bed, and toys everywhere. She has a poster of Connect 3 on a wall by her bed, and another one of Sponge Bob beside it.

Then, he takes me to the room next to Lisa's.

"What's this?" I ask. He opens the door and turns the light on, letting the room answer by itself. There's a huge display of guitars – there must be around 29 in general – and a piano in the corner of the room. There are album posters of a lot of bands I've never heard of, and I can guess right away those are his inspirations.

"Wow," I say. He nods, grabs a guitar, and plays a part of a song that sounds really familiar. I realize it's Play My Music from the last CD they released. "Oh, I love that song!"

He nods and starts to sing along with the music. "Music's in my soul, I can hear it, every day, every night, it's the one thing on my mind. Music's got control, and I'm never letting go, no, no, I just want to play my music."

After my mini-serenade, we leave the apartment, heading for mine, which is only a couple of blocks from his. Once we get there, it's my turn to unlock the door and give him a tour, except the sight of Caitlyn and Nate making out on the couch greets us.

I clear my throat, wondering how it is they still haven't learned their lesson. I mean, this isn't the first time I catch them in the same position, yet they're still there.

Caitlyn stands up quickly, rolling her eyes and muttering something under her breath. Nate stands up too, and looks at us, embarrassed but not surprised.

"Why is it that lately, whenever I get home, you guys are going at it on the couch?" I ask, smirking at them. Shane looks a little shocked, and I'm about to invite him in when I notice Nate staring at him.

"Shane?" Nate asks, looking more surprised than I've ever seen anyone look before.

"Nate?" Shane asks, equally surprised.

"What are you doing here?" they both ask at the same time.

"Well, Nate is dating Caitlyn," I say, answering for Nate, considering that I was the one in the middle of it all. "And Shane is on a date with me," I answer for Shane.

"Man, I can't believe you're here," Nate says, coming over to where we are and giving Shane a hug. Caitlyn walks over to me, and we discuss our dates while Shane and Nate have a mini reunion.

Once they're done, we all sit down to watch Sponge Bob together. Caitlyn and Nate take the reclining chair, Caitlyn on Nate's lap and his arms around her waist, Shane and I sit on the couch, and we start watching the DVD.

After not even five minutes of watching, Caitlyn and I are laughing hysterically, and Shane and Nate are laughing pretty hard, too. Who would've ever known that the little yellow dude was so funny?

-WTD-

Nate leaves after the second episode, saying he has an early call time the next day. Caitlyn to bed after he left, not wanting to be the third wheel, and so Shane and I were by ourselves in the living room.

We weren't having wild, passionate sex or anything, you sick-minded people. We were just watching the show, and well, at some point, Shane put his arm around my shoulders and I snuggled closer to him.

As another episode came to a close, the DVD returned to the menu screen. "What happened?! That's all?!" I jump up and grab the DVD case. We've already seen all the episodes, but I still want to see more. Shane laughs at my outburst, and takes the box from my hands gently. "I had a ton of fun tonight," he says. For a moment, I think he's going to kiss me, but then he walks over to the TV, takes the DVD out and puts it in the case.

I walk him to the door, and he's about to walk out when he turns to me. He puts one hand on the small of my back, the hand that's carrying the DVD, and he puts the other behind my neck, bringing me closer to him. I smile before I feel his lips on mine, but as soon as it started, it's over, and he leaves, saying good night and smiling at me over his shoulder.

**And there it is, the longest chapter so far! Around 6 pages, which is a record for me. So what'd you think? Please, please tell me, I appreciate your opinion immensely, and I WILL answer the review. **

**Oh, and my 50****th**** reviewer was XxxJoJonasxxX, who will be Jason's love interest. You'll meet her in the next chapter. I thought it was a cool idea to do that, so every fifty reviews, someone's going to get a part in my story. It probably won't be too big a part, but hey, it's still something, right? **


	7. chapter 6

**Y'ello, everyone! Here's my lovely next chapter. I wanted to give a special thanks to XxxJoJonasxxX because she's so demanding that I actually get these chapters done. In this chapter, you will meet the lucky winner of my "contest" or whatever, the same person I mentioned just now, XxxJoJonasxxX. She was the 50****th**** reviewer, so she will now be Jason's love interest.**

**And also, I've decided to make this something regular, so my 100****th**** reviewer will get a part, then the 150****th**** and so on. But blonde-gal gave me a very good idea last night that I'm going to use, but not for this story, for my one-shots ('cause I have TONS of those). I'm going to post a trivia question on my profile every day, and the first person to get it right will be in my next one-shot. Sound good? I'm going to do it as soon as this chapter's up, FYI.**

Chapter 6

The next day, I make my way to Vanessa's office, still thinking about my amazing date with Shane. Sure, our kiss was short, and completely out-of-the-blue, but I enjoyed it, and it's not like I was going to sleep with him last night.

Once I get to her office, I knock on the door. No one answers, and I'm a bit confused as to what to do, so I just slide the materials under the door. I only had a piece of paper and the tape from the recorder anyway, so it didn't matter.

This will sound somewhat stalker-ish, but I made a copy of the tape so I could put it in my 'memory box', a box where I put a lot of memorabilia from places I visit, people I love, stuff like that.

Right now, only two people have a box for themselves – Caitlyn and my best friend from high school, Sierra. But who knows? Maybe Shane will get his own someday. I certainly wouldn't mind.

With these thoughts running through my head, I go back to my desk, wondering what I could do now. Clearly, I'm done with the story, and since I haven't gotten any assignments, I just log into myspace, not having anything better to do.

When it's time for out lunch break, Caitlyn comes by my desk and tells me we're going to lunch with Nate and Jason.

"Are we going to that little café again? I loved that place!" I say.

Caitlyn shakes her head. "No, we're going to this pizza place Jason says is amazing. Apparently, he eats there, like, every day."

I nod and grab my stuff. "Hey, do you think maybe I should invite Shane? I mean, he saw Nate last night and they didn't seem to have had any problems with each other."

Caitlyn agrees, and I pull out my cell phone, noticing an unread text message. It says unknown number, so I open to see if it says who it's from inside.

**Lisa's with me for lunch, and she wants to meet you. What do you think?**

**-Shane.**

I text him back quickly, telling him our plans and inviting them along. Right away, I get a reply.

**Sure, where are you going?**

While I text him the name of the place and the address, we leave the office and set for the pizza place. We decide to walk, because the weather's nice and the place is only a couple of blocks from the office. Once we get there, we see Jason and Shane talking enthusiastically (probably catching up) while Nate plays tic-tac-toe on a napkin with Lisa.

"Ha! I win again! I'm the champion!" exclaims Lisa, getting up from her seat and running around the table. Shane extends an arm and catches her when she's by him, and puts her on the seat again. He doesn't say anything, but Lisa remains seated and starts another round of tic-tac-toe with Nate.

"Hey, guys," says Caitlyn, going over to Nate and kissing him quickly. Lisa ew's from where she is, and Shane laughs at her, then looks at me and smiles. I sit between Shane and Jason, making Jason scoot over so he's by Caitlyn, who's sitting next to Nate, who's sitting next to Lisa, who's sitting next to Shane.

I say hi to everyone, and then notice Lisa looking at me curiously. I smile at her, feeling kind of awkward.

"Are you daddy's girlfriend?" she asks bluntly. I laugh nervously, not knowing how to answer, but thankfully, Shane answers before I can say anything and make a fool of myself.

"Yes, she is, champ," he looks at me and smiles and I feel like I could melt. Caitlyn awes from her side of the table, but I ignore it. We don't get the chance to talk about it, though, because Lisa bounces up from her seat, and, ignoring her dad's warning glances, comes over to me, and starts talking excitedly about what we're going to do now.

"… and you'll have to come over every day and watch Sponge Bob with us because my dad said you liked it and we can play dress up together and play with my dolls because those are girl things and my dad doesn't like it when I make him play with me because he says that boys don't play girl games, but I need someone to play with, so do you want to be my friend?" she said in one breath. We all laugh at her monologue, especially the part about Shane not liking it when she makes him play girl games with her.

"I'd love to come over and play with you anytime, Lisa," I say, and she smiles at me while her dad drags her to her seat.

Once we're all settled down, a waitress comes by, saying hi to Jason and asking what we want to drink. **(A/N: XxxJoJonasxxX, you're officially part of the story!)**

"Hey, Marti," he says, and by the way she smiles, I want to take a guess and say she likes him.

We all order our drinks, and Marti comes back almost right away with a tray full of drinks.

"Do you guys know what you're gonna order?" Marti says, giving each of us our drinks. I take a sip of mine and look at Jason, willing to be he's the one that knows what we should order.

I was right, and as he orders for us, I pay close attention to Marti. I see Caitlyn looking at her curiously, but we seem to be the only ones who notice. Once she leaves, I say: "Hey, Jason, what do you think of Marti?"

He shrugs, and says: "I don't know, she's nice, and she always gives me a free dessert. What's not to like?"

"Jason, does she ever act flirty with you?" I ask, completely intrigued now.

"How does someone act flirty?" Caitlyn jumps in when he asks this, listing off ways of knowing when someone's flirting with you.

"Does she lean toward you when you talk? Does she smile or laugh a lot, touch your hand softly, or play with her hair?" Caitlyn says, and he shrugs again.

"I don't know. I haven't noticed," he says, and I want to smack him for being such a spazz.

"Maybe if we show him what flirting is like," I suggest, and Caitlyn nods.

"You can be the teacher," she says, a playful smile at her lips.

"Okay," I say, and turn toward Shane. He looks at me surprised when he hears me call him, having been playing a game with Lisa.

I lean toward him and smile teasingly. I ask him about his store while twirling a strand of hair on my fingers, and brush my fingers over his hand. From the corner of my eye, I see Caitlyn nodding approvingly. Once I think Jason would get it, I sit straight up and smile at Shane, who looks confused as to what was happening.

When Marti comes back with the pizza, we're all looking at her intently, except for Lisa, who's drawing something on a napkin. She glances around nervously, then asks: "Why are you looking at me? Do I have something on my teeth?"

"Your teeth are fine," says Jason. He smiles at her and she smiles back, clearly relieved but still confused.

"Well, is there anything else I can get you guys?" she asks, tugging at a strand of her hair.

I look pointedly at Jason, and he nods at me, having gotten the clue. "Hey, Marti," he says. "Would you be interested in getting coffee or something sometime?"

She nods eagerly, then realizes what she's doing and says, "Yeah, that sounds good."

He gives her his number, and she gives him hers. Nate and Shane look at each other with raised eyebrows as Caitlyn and I smile proudly at each other.

-WTD-

After we were done with lunch, Jason went back to the school where he was a music teacher, and Shane, Nate and Lisa walked Caitlyn and me back to the office. Shane was holding Lisa's hand, as she had the tendency of running off randomly. Lisa was also holding my hand, creating a mini-human chain between the three of us.

When we got to the office, Lisa gave me a hug, and while she ran off with Nate chasing her, Shane placed a hand on the small of my back and brought me closer to him.

"Hi," I whispered. Instead of answering, he kissed me, softly at first. I kissed him back, but pulled away, not wanting to display this to every passerby on the street.

"Thanks for being so great with her," he said. "It means a lot to me. A lot of people are really weird about me having a kid, but I love her more than anything."

"How can I not like her? She's so cute!" I say. "She reminds me of you." He smiles at this, and I continue. "She's got her father's charm."

He kisses me again, but then lets go of his hold on me. "I'll call you later, okay?"

I walk into the building, barely paying attention to anyone around me until Caitlyn nudges me while we're in the elevator.

"Mitchie," she hisses, "Jen's talking to you!" I look at Jen, and nod along, hoping she doesn't realize I have no idea what she's saying.

Jen gets off on the floor before ours, so I don't have to pretend I ever knew what she was talking about.

When I get to my desk, I see a big manila envelope on it. I open it curiously and see the copy of my story, but the tape I gave her isn't there. I shrug it off, thinking she might still be listening to it or something.

I text Shane quickly, letting him know the story is done.

**Great! When does the issue come out?**

To answer his question, I text him saying: **July 15****th****. How's Lisa doing?**

**She wants me to ask you if you would come over for a play date after you get out of work.**

I smile, imagining Lisa tugging on Shane's sleeve while he texts me, asking him to tell me that. **Sure, why not? I'll be there around 5. **

Shane and I text the rest of the afternoon, since I didn't have anything better to do and the store wasn't especially busy.

Around 4.30, I turn off my computer and grabbed my things, getting ready to leave. I walk by Vanessa's office on my way to Caitlyn's desk, and I see our editor leaving her office to go somewhere.

Vanessa's always dressed in the latest fashions, I've noticed. She's the kind of person you look up to, the kind that you can't see having any friends, just servants, or minions or something. Today, she's wearing a high-waist black pencil skirt and a fitted white blouse tucked in. Her long blonde hair is up on a bun, and her make up is done perfectly, as usual.

I smile at her, expecting a comment on my story or something, but she just smiles a tight-lipped smile, like she was just being polite, and brushes past me, probably getting ready to yell at someone or something.

I don't think about it twice as I walk to Caitlyn's desk, looking forward to seeing Shane and Lisa again.

**READ THIS! I think a lot of you guys didn't read my author's note at the beginning of last chapter, because I mentioned a lot of people in it, and I think only one person mentioned it. Either that, or you read it and didn't care, which I feel is kind of worse. I'm no one to tell you to be grateful or anything, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate it your reviews, and it kind of hurt when no one noticed. So just skim my author's notes, because even though they seem kind of pointless, they usually have a point and just include a lot of rambling in there.**

**Thanks, and please, please, please review! The trivia question is up on my profile, so first person to answer it correctly gets a cameo in my next one-shot. Oh, and starting today, I'm co-authoring the story Who Needs Protection From Who? With **pr0udpnaiix33**, so go check out her profile, she's got tons of great stories!**


	8. chapter 7

**I just realized that I wrote bunch of stuff in the prologue that I never included in the story. So for now, ignore the prologue until I get it fixed. Anyway, here's the new chapter, since everyone's been asking so much for it. No worries, guys, 'cause your reviews are what keeps it going on. Last night, I reviewed one of my favorite author's new story, Crashed the Wedding, by Devil Pup (author of the amazing stories After The Credits Roll and Life Keeps Going), and I kind of inserted a shameless plug in there about WTD, and she actually read it and reviewed, which kind of felt like a celebrity reviewing my stories, you know, because hers are so successful and all. It was definitely weird, like I know she's just another person, but almost EVERYONE has heard of her stories, so it was pretty awesome to talk to her. Anyway, before I stop rambling, I'm at 84 reviews at the moment, and I got 17 on the last chapter alone. And my hits went from 80 on chapter 5 on Wednesday to 200 on chapter 6 today! So thanks to all of you for being so amazing, and only 16 more reviews until we find out who will be my new character!**

**Now, here goes, the much awaited chapter 7!**

Chapter 7

I stood nervously in front of Shane's apartment door, fixing my hair and straightening my already straight clothes over and over again. Sure, I already had a first date with Shane. And yeah, I had lunch with him and his daughter this morning. And okay, this was the second time I went to his apartment. But for some reason, it felt more important, as if the first impression wasn't what counted with Lisa, but the play date. It felt almost like if I played with the wrong Barbie or dressed her with the wrong clothes, Lisa wouldn't like me and Shane wouldn't date me.

But my fate couldn't be up to a four-year-old, could it? I raised my hand to the doorbell and pressed it quickly. Almost immediately, Lisa appeared at the door and pulled me inside. The first sight that greeted me was Shane on the living room couch, reading a book, apparently oblivious to the mess the room was.

"Hi, Lisa," I said. I put my purse on a coat hanger by the door, and walked into the living room. I kissed Shane's forehead, and he looked up at me and smiled warmly. I felt tingles all over my body, but I didn't have the time to enjoy the feeling as Lisa grabbed my hand yet again and pulled me to her room.

Not bothering with explanations, Lisa handed me a Barbie doll that looked incredibly mistreated, and grabbed a Ken from a shelf nearby. She organized the game all by herself, and I just followed along, surprising myself with all the fun I was having.

After a while of playing, Shane came into the room and grabbed Lisa by the waist, sitting down on the bed and placing her on his lap. He whispered something to Lisa, while I wondered curiously what they were saying.

Lisa got up from her dad's lap and walked over to me, whispering in my ear: "My daddy wants to know if you'll stay for dinner."

I grinned widely and nodded, and Lisa let out a loud 'yippee', then kicked her dad out of the room, saying that "they needed some privacy for their game". Shane left the room laughing, and went to the kitchen to make dinner.

-WTD-

Lisa and I continued playing until Shane called us to the table. As we were leaving the room, Lisa grabbed my hand, not to pull me anywhere like she had before, but just to hold it. I felt her heart warm at this, as cheesy as that sounded, and smiled at the little girl.

"Are you sleeping over, too?" Lisa asked while we sat at the table. Shane was in the kitchen and didn't hear the question, but walked in just in time to see me blushing furiously.

"Lisa, did you ask her something you weren't supposed to?" he said reprimanding.

"No, daddy! I just asked her if she was sleeping over!" Lisa cried, clearly not understanding what 'sleeping over' meant to us.

"Well, honey, Mitchie has to go home because Caitlyn – you remember her, right?" Lisa nodded, and Shane continued. "Well, she'll be all alone if Mitchie doesn't go home."

I snorted when I heard what Shane said, but didn't say anything when I saw the look Shane gave me.

"Why doesn't she invite someone?" asked Lisa innocently. I tried to hold back her laughter again, thinking that Caitlyn would be anything _but_ alone if I stayed with them.

"She can't invite anyone because everyone has to go home at night," Shane answered patiently.

Once we were done discussing the sleep over issue, conversation flowed naturally between the three of us. Lisa was quite the ice breaker, and her questions and comments had us laughing all through dinner.

-WTD-

"Daddy?" Lisa asked, carefully getting her plate to the kitchen, where Shane and I were doing the dishes. "If Mitchie can't sleep over, can she tell me a story when I go to bed?"

Shane smiled at his daughter. "Don't you think you should ask Mitchie that?"

"Yeah, but when I asked her if she was sleeping over, you didn't let her answer," Lisa answered simply.

I laughed, and said: "I would love to put you a bed."

Lisa smiled and exited the kitchen skipping. Shane and I continued doing the dishes in silence until he said: "She really likes you, you know?"

I nodded and smiled at him. "I really like her, too. She reminds me of my cousin when she was that age."

He grinned, clearly happy to hear I liked her. Why wouldn't I, though? Lisa was one of the spunkiest little girls I'd ever met, and she was just as charming as Shane.

I thought of how much Shane and Lisa didn't look like each other. The only thing they had in common, besides their personalities, was their eyes. While Shane had dark hair and tan skin, Lisa had light brown hair and fair skin. But they both had the same chocolate brown eyes.

"You know," I started thoughtfully. "You two look nothing alike. Except for your eyes."

"Yeah, Lisa looks more like her mom than she looks like me," Shane said, putting away a plate in a nearby cupboard.

"What happened between you and her mom?" I asked. When I saw the look on Shane's face, I backtracked immediately, regretting having asked that.

"No, no, it's fine. It's just… Well, we dated for about a year, and we had a great relationship. Her name was Tess Tyler," he said. The name sounds oddly familiar, and I wonder where I've heard it.

"Was?" I asked.

"She got married last year. Now it's Tess Williams." I nodded, and he continues. "Her mom is TJ Tyler." So that's where how I've heard her name! Shane and Tess used to be the hottest couple back then. "Whenever we toured, she would go to every show, no matter where it was. She had her own jet anyway, so it wasn't like she couldn't afford it. Anyway, during our last tour, she was working on recording her own CD, so she stopped going to all the shows, and I saw her once a month, or less. On one of our weekends off, I went to visit her. We'd been dating for so long that I didn't think twice about visiting unannounced. And well, I went to her apartment, and I walked in on her and another guy. It was a hard relationship, and things were getting harder and harder, but I never thought she'd cheat on me. I walked out and she followed me, trying to explain, but I was too mad to let her. A couple of weeks later, she showed up at our last show, and told me she was pregnant. At first, I didn't believe her, and when she proved it, I didn't think the baby was mine, but it made sense. She hadn't been cheating on me that long, and when I saw her with that guy, she was already two months pregnant. Neither one of us wanted her to get an abortion, nor did I want to be with her just because of the pregnancy. In the end, we decided that since we both lived in the city, I would get her on weekends and every other year for holidays."

I nodded, not knowing what to say. I could tell Shane really loved Tess back then – he was still hurting from her betrayal. Still speechless, I hugged him tightly, hoping it would make him feel better. He seemed surprised, but hugged me back soon after, and we remained like that, just hugging, until Lisa ran into the kitchen, buck naked.

"Daddy, daddy!" she exclaimed. "It's time for my bath!"

Shane took one look at her, and laughed. I was a bit shocked, but immediately remembered that I used to be like that once, and laughed too. I offered to help her take her bath while Shane finished the dishes.

Lisa ran out of the kitchen as quickly as she'd run in, and Shane and I were alone again. I turned toward him and grabbed his hands, pulling him closer. I stood on my toes and kissed him softly. Immediately, he put his arms around my waist, kissing me back.

I loved the feeling of him so close to me. I hadn't had a boyfriend in the longest time, and even when I did have one, I never liked him as much I as liked Shane. I just hoped this lasted. I pulled away from our kiss, whispering, "Lisa's probably waiting for me."

Shane groaned but let me go, and went back to the dishes. I put my arms around his waist, hugging him from the back, and kissed his neck before leaving. I could almost see Shane staring at me as I left. I shivered in pleasure, then went to the bathroom, where I could hear the water running.

-WTD-

After a fun but messy bath, Lisa and I were in her room, het tucked into bed, and me lying beside her, reading from a book she'd picked out earlier.

"…and they lived happily ever after, the end," I said, closing the book. I looked at Lisa, who had already fallen asleep. I kissed her forehead and left the room, heading for the TV room, where Shane sat, watching Sponge Bob.

I sat down on the couch, snuggling up to him. He put an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him, and asked: "Is she asleep?"

I nodded and looked at him, marveling in how handsome he was. How did I get so lucky? I would never stop wondering. He noticed I was looking at him and asked:

"Do I have something on my face? Or am I just so hot you can't stop looking at me?"

Instead of answering, I kissed him, and he parted his mouth slightly, deepening the kiss. We continued to kiss, the show long forgotten.

Somehow, we made it back to his room, and onto the bed. I was working on removing his shirt when he pulled away. I looked at him, still kind of woozy from the kissing.

"Not now, okay?" he said. "Not with Lisa here."

I nodded and kissed his lips softly, then stood up and walked out of the room. He followed me, and before I could walk out of the hallway and into the living room, he grabbed my waist and spun me around. "I'm sorry," he said, kissing my forehead.

"Don't worry about it, I understand," I smiled reassuringly at him, and he looked relieved to see I wasn't mad.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'm kind of tired, so I think I'm going to head home."

He nodded, and handed me my purse. Before leaving the apartment, I turned around and said: "I didn't have a problem with the sleep over, you know?" I smiled seductively at him and closed the door behind me.

Even down the hallway, I could hear the bang as his head hit the door.

**Don't worry, it's not a cliffy. He was just banging his head against the door frustrated. He was just regretting he didn't let her answer for herself if she wanted to sleep over or not.**

**Voilà! There it is, chapter 7 in all its glory. So I was thinking about how I wanted Lisa to look like, and I found this picture that I think is perfect for her. The only difference would be the eyes. The link is in my profile.  
**

**Also, guys, only 15 more reviews until I break 100! So who's going to be the lucky 100****th**** reviewer to get a part in the fic? We'll see soon! **

**And last order of business: Review, review, review!**


	9. chapter 8

**You know how much I love you guys? I love you so, so much that even after staying up until 3.30, I'm up at 9 to write the next chapter for you guys. My mom wants to go out today, so this was the only chance I had. You better review a lot! Heh, I'm not threatening or anything, but reviews would be nice.**

**Last night Way Too Deep broke the 100 reviews, and the lucky winner is Kana's Mirror! She totally had it planned out carefully, but she won fair and square, so it is her character you will meet as soon as I can get a hold of her. Also, XxxJoJonasxxX, if you were wondering when Marti was coming back, she'll be in this chapter. Now, enjoy! (Oh, and before I forget – thank you to my amazing readers and reviewers. Without you, I wouldn't have gone from 2044 hits to 2196 in less than an hour!)**

Chapter 8

**June 2013**

The next couple of weeks went by with me in constant happiness. My relationship with Shane was great, Lisa and I were getting along perfectly, Nate and Caitlyn were doing really well, and since I got Shane's story, I'd gotten several more assignment, and though none as big as my previous story, they were all bigger than anything I got before, too. Basically, life was great.

Summer was just starting, and Lisa was staying with Shane for a month, so I would go over almost every day after work to play with her and spend some time with Shane. We both knew that if we wanted a working relationship, we had to spend time with Lisa, too, but I didn't mind at all, and Shane loved that.

One nice summer afternoon, we went out for a walk to Central Park with Lisa. She had ran ahead of us, chasing a pigeon, then a squirrel, then another pigeon, and we were walking behind her, holding hands and talking calmly.

Lately, I'd notice that Lisa was spending more and more time with her dad. I don't know why it was, but it seemed kind of strange, especially when you thought about how she seemed to be with Shane every day. Today, I'd decided to bring it up.

"Shane?" I asked. He was wearing sunglasses, but I know he was looking at me. "Is everything okay with Tess? I've noticed Lisa's with you more than she is with her mom."

Shane sighed, as if he knew I was asking him sooner or later. "I've been trying to get her off Tess' hands. She just got married, and she wants to spend time with her husband, I guess."

He didn't look at me when he said that, which made me suspicious. "You can tell me the truth, you know?"

He sighed, but started talking anyway. "The thing is… Tess called me a couple of weeks ago, and told me she wanted to change the custody arrangements. She said she wants to have Lisa every other weekend, that she's too busy to take care of her."

I'm sure my jaw dropped as soon as I heard that. "That's horrible! Why wouldn't she want her own daughter?"

Shane shrugs, and looks down to his feet. "I don't know, that's the thing. Yesterday, Lisa asked me why her mommy never played with her like you do. I'm scared, Mitchie. I want Lisa to have her two parents, but if Tess isn't up to the part… I don't know if I can raise her by myself."

I put my arm around his waist, hugging him tightly. "If Tess is giving up her daughter… Well, that's complete bullshit. Parents don't give up kids – at least not good ones. Like you. You're a great father, Shane. I've seen you with Lisa, she _loves_ you. She's always talking about how her daddy said this or that. And you don't have to raise her by yourself. I'm here – and I'm sure Caitlyn, Nate and Jason are more than willing to help, too. She has one hell of a loving family," I finished, smiling at him. I was furious at what her mother was doing – who would ever want to give up Lisa? She was a pretty sucky mother if she wasn't taking her of her daughter. I don't know what the problem is with her, but whatever it is, it's pretty bad.

Shane looked at me and smiled. He stopped, stopping me with him, and kissed my forehead lightly. Funny how he's done that a lot in the past month, yet it still feels like the first time he did it.

Then, Lisa called us from the playground where she was running around, wanting to show us something. So I grabbed Shane's hand, and we walked over to her. Lisa smiled her big, goofy grin, and I could tell that for now, things were going to be okay.

-WTD-

I walked into Shane's apartment the next day armed with several chick flicks, ice cream, and anything else you would need for a good sleep over. Lisa had invited me, and this time, Shane let me agree for myself before saying anything.

"Lisa? Shane?" I called when I got into the apartment. I knew where the spare key was, so letting myself in wasn't a problem.

"In here," I heard Shane's voice call out from Lisa's bedroom. The first thing I saw was the huge TV from the TV room on top of Lisa's desk. Then, I saw a shirtless, sweaty Shane, wiping his brow after having carried the TV in here. I smirked, but before I could do anything inappropriate (like jumping him, which trust me, I was thinking about) I saw Lisa sitting on her bed, in her PJs already even though it was only 4 PM.

"Hey, guys," I said, dropping the bag with the sleep over necessities on Lisa's bed. I kissed Lisa on the forehead, but she barely acknowledged me, looking excitedly through the bag of goodies. I turned to Shane, kissing him softly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around me, but I squirmed away from him.

"Ew! You're all sweaty!" I exclaimed. He laughed, but didn't try to grab me again, instead just kissing me on the forehead.

From the bed, Lisa cheered loudly, holding a chocolate bar in her hand. Shane saw it and frowned at me. He had told me that no chocolate or anything containing sugar or she wouldn't fall asleep ever, but I disobeyed him and brought some. Before he could say anything, I moved to the bed and quickly put the chocolate back in the bag, putting the bag behind me. Lisa was sitting behind me and in front of the bag, and she moved up so the bag was kind of hidden between us.

"Shh, Lisa, don't say anything!" I said, whispering in secrecy. She giggled and nodded, and then looked at Shane innocently, with a puppy dog face everyone knew he couldn't resist. I copied her, and we both pouted at Shane.

He groaned, then smiled at us and left the room. I turned to Lisa and we both started laughing, happy our plan was successful. When we were done laughing, I put on a movie and we started watching it. Lisa had a pretty big bed for a four-year-old, so we were lying side by side. She cuddled up to me and I put an arm around her shoulder. She was so tiny and cute, yet she had such a huge personality.

We watched a couple movies and ate a couple of the chocolate bars I brought, and at some point during the second movie, we both fell asleep, because the next thing I know, Shane was covering us with a blanket. I didn't open my eyes but I was awake – I felt him reaching across me to kiss Lisa's forehead, then kissing mine. When he did that, I opened my eyes. He gasped, surprised, but smiled once the shock was over.

We went to Shane's room, and put in a movie we'd been watching the week before but hadn't had time to finish. I lay down in his bed and patted the space by me, and he lay down too. I put my head on his chest, and he ran his hands through my hair.

When the movie was over, Shane and I went into Lisa's room to put her in bed. Shane scooped her up carefully while I turned the bed in. He placed her on top of the sheets, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. She looked so peaceful and quiet when she was sleeping – the total opposite of how she was awake.

Once we were out of the room, Shane put his arms around my waist, kissing my neck playfully. I swatted him away – this wasn't the best time to start making out. I was here because I promised Lisa a girl's night, and that was what I was planning on doing, no matter how lonely Shane would be in his room that night. I told him that and he pouted but let me go.

I changed and lay down on the extra bed in Lisa's room. I fell asleep in an instant, wiped out from the day's activities.

-WTD-

The next morning, Lisa jumping on my bed woke me up. "Mitchie, Mitchie, get up!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Daddy's making breakfast, and he said that if you didn't get up now, you wouldn't have any French toast!"

I got up immediately after hearing this. Shane knew how much I liked French toast, and his were the best I'd ever tried. Lisa and I left the room and walked into to the kitchen, where Shane was standing wearing one of those 'Kiss the cook' aprons. I obeyed, kissing his cheek before serving myself some coffee.

The smell of breakfast was making both of us hungry, and even though Shane kicked us out of the kitchen, we kept coming back. He kicked us out one last time, and we sat down on the living room couch, the same disappointed expressions on our face.

Not too long after, though, Shane came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of yummy-looking French toast, and Lisa and I both jumped up quickly, running to the table.

After breakfast, Lisa and I headed to my apartment while Shane went to the store. I didn't have to work today, but he did, so I offered to watch Lisa. We were going to my place, getting Caitlyn, and then taking Lisa to the huge Toys R' Us by Times Square, where we were meeting Marti, who was know Jason's official girlfriend. Lisa loved the store, and since her birthday was coming up, Caitlyn and I thought it would be good to see what toys she really wanted. We were all spoiling her rotten, we really were.

"Caity, Caity, Caity!" Lisa yelled as she walked into the apartment. I walked in after her and put my stuff on the counter, while Lisa went to get Caitlyn. She was probably still asleep, but Lisa would take care of that.

Not a minute later, Caitlyn tumbled out of the room, looking half-asleep, while Lisa ran out after her, dragging a drowsy looking Nate after her. "Look, Mitchie! You can sleep over more because Caity won't be alone anymore!" she exclaimed.

I laughed at Lisa's comment and their appearances. Neither one of them was a morning person, as opposed to Shane, who was used to getting up early thanks to Lisa, and me. I was just a morning person.

While Nate made Caitlyn some breakfast (ain't he sweet?), Lisa and I sat down in front of the TV to watch Sponge Bob, but Lisa was way too excited for our girls' day out, and she kept jumping up and down.

"It's going to be so much fun!" she said over and over. Little kids have a lot of energy, don't they?

Once Caitlyn was ready and Nate had left, us three girls set out on our adventure. _Finally_, I thought, while chasing down a very active Lisa. Granted, we had to look after a four-year-old in one of the biggest toy stores, but who said we weren't going to have fun?

**There it is! I fast forwarded a couple of weeks because so far, the story has taken place over a couple of days only, and I didn't want to make it seem like they were moving too fast because I hate **

**that in a story. Anyway, review, review, review, because I swear I'll answer, and your reviews mean the world to me.**


	10. chapter 9

**I have a bit of free time, so I figured I'd make you guys happy and write the next chapter.**

**DramaticStarlet answered the trivia question correctly, so my next one-shot will feature her. It should be up in the next couple of days, depending on how fast she gets back to me. When she does, I'll post a new question. **

**And guys, enjoy the fluffiness in this chapter, because the bad stuff is happening soon. Mwahahaha!**

Chapter 9

**June 2013**

I heard a knock on my apartment door, followed by another softer one. It was Shane and Lisa, coming to our place for dinner. Lisa's birthday was the following day, but it was her mom's turn to have her, so Caitlyn and I had organized a small birthday party for her.

While I went to get the door, Caitlyn threw a sheet over the pile of presents we had on the coffee table. I know it's a poor disguise, but it didn't have to be totally conspicuous. It would fool a five-year-old.

Or at least that was what we thought. When I opened the door, Shane walked in first, handed me a covered dish that I assumed was his famous cheesecake, and kissed me. Lisa just ran in, and yelled "Presents!" as soon as she saw the pile.

"Damn!" I heard Caitlyn say from the kitchen. Nate shushed her and she giggled. Cue rolling my eyes. They were having another couple-y moment. I hope Shane and I aren't like that.

Lisa tore the sheet off the squealed when she saw all the presents Caitlyn, Nate, and I had gotten for her. I knew Shane had even more for her at home because I helped him get them. She was one lucky kid.

"Lisa, what did I tell you?" said Shane using his father voice. Lisa retreated from the table immediately, and then ran over to me, hugging me tightly.

The doorbell rang again, and Lisa answered it herself.

"Jason! Marti!" she yelled. They both hugged her, but didn't hand her any presents, saying that those were going on the pile. Lisa pouted but forgot about it immediately when my cousin Kana arrived.

"Kana!" Lisa yelled (again). She was way too excited. But then again, what normal five-year-old wouldn't be excited when all of her favorite grown ups (her words, not mine!) were together to celebrate her birthday, not to mention all the gifts we'd gotten her? If it wasn't for Shane being a strict parent, Lisa would be spoiled rotten. Well, she partially was. After all, there was a huge pile of presents for her sitting in my living room!

Kana walked into the apartment, setting her purse down in the middle of the floor. I glared at her, because she knew I was OCD and hated when she did that, but she ignored me. After going around and saying hi to everyone (and interrupting Nate and Caitlyn's make-out session in the kitchen in her Kana fashion), she came over to me.

"I refuse," I said to her. She rolled her eyes and picked up her purse, hanging it on the coat hangers by the front door.

"Better?" she asked. I smiled at her and opened my arms, and she hugged me tightly. I saw her at least once a week, but we were still like that.

-WTD-

A couple of hours later, we were sitting down at the table, Lisa at the head of the table, a cake with five lit candles in front of her. We were singing happy birthday to her (well, more like Shane, Nate and Jason having an impromptu concert for her while we just looked on) and the smile on her face was the biggest I'd seen yet.

She knew that after the cake came the presents – that was why as soon as she blew the candles out she ran to the living room and grabbed the present closest to her. Our pile was organized carefully in a sort of tower, meaning that if she took the present from the bottom the whole tower would come tumbling down, which it did. Lisa was soon covered in presents, squealing in glee. Yes, she was actually happy to be completely buried in presents. There's Lisa for you.

Shane came after her, laughing while taking the presents and putting them back on the table. I helped too, and soon we had the present situation under control. Lisa proceeded to open the present at hand, ignoring the rest of us. She would grin if she liked it, and thank whoever got it for her (under Shane's orders), or scrunch her nose and subtly put it on the pile of unwrapped presents. Shane still told her to thank whoever got it, but she wouldn't do it with as much enthusiasm. It's not like we were offended, because she still got everything she wanted, and we still got her everything she needed. Well, everything Shane said she needed – mainly clothes that he didn't want to buy himself, and we didn't want to let him buy them either.

This went on for quite a while, as she had a lot of presents, but once she was done, Shane allowed her to open only two presents to play with, so she chose the Barbie doll Caitlyn got her and the Barbie bedroom set I got her. While she played, we sat at the living room, watching her and carrying a conversation. Well, Nate, Caitlyn, Marti and Jason were talking – Kana was playing with Lisa, Shane was watching them, and I was just thinking about stuff. Mostly about Lisa and what had been worrying me for quite a while now – her mom and everything that was going on with her.

I pushed the thoughts out of my head. It was Lisa's birthday, the worst day to be all contemplative. That could be saved for some other day. I turned to Caitlyn and the rest and incorporated myself in the conversation – that should distract me.

After the party, Shane and I were cleaning up the living room while Caitlyn and Nate did the kitchen (Hmm… I wonder if it turns them on or something. They spend a lot of time in there). Lisa had fallen asleep on the couch, Kana was watching TV, and Jason and Marti had already left, saying something about it being late and them being tired. Uh-huh, yeah, sure. We all knew that's not what they meant. **(A/N: Sorry XxxJoJonasxxX! I had to! Hehe)**

Shane and I were still picking up wrapping paper scraps when Caitlyn and Nate left the apartment. Why was it everyone was going off to "have a good time" (Yes, I mean it in the double-sense of it) and we were here cleaning up? I frowned as I thought of this, until I came up with a better plan.

I approached Shane quietly, placing my hands on his back and rubbing it slowly. He turned and looked at me curiously, but didn't push me away. Using my best sultry voice, I said: "You know, if Nate and Caitlyn are staying at his place…" I started. He raised his eyebrows at me, and I turned away a bit. "Never mind. It wouldn't be a good idea."

I tried to hold back a smile as he took a step closer to me. It was working perfectly. He grabbed my waist and gazed intensely into my eyes. "Why don't you let me decide?"

"Well, I just figured since Lisa was here… " I trailed off, and when I heard him take a big gulp, I knew it worked. Ha, men were too easy!

I smiled sweetly at him, but inside, I was jumping for joy. I don't feel very comfortable sharing this, but we hadn't had sex in about two weeks and I was missing it. That's kind of an understatement, actually.

Anyway, we took Lisa to Caitlyn's room, where she could sleep that night. She was so out of it she didn't even notice we'd moved her. Then, Shane and I went to my room, and well, you know what happened then.

-WTD-

I woke up the next morning in Shane's arms. I smiled and kissed him, making him stir a bit, but he didn't wake up. I put his shirt and a pair of shorts on and went to Caitlyn's room to see if she was up. She wasn't there, so I checked the living room next, where I found her playing with her toys.

She had opened every single toy she'd gotten last night, and when she saw me, this look that was a mix of guilt and sadness appeared on her face. When I smiled at her, though, she looked relieved and continued playing.

"You know your dad won't like all this, Lisa," I said, trying to be as disciplinary as possible. She pouted at me, so I shrugged and went on to the kitchen. Man, I was a softie.

I made breakfast while Lisa played in the living room. I could hear her making up dialogue for her toys. She would make different voices for each character, and from what I could hear, it sounded like a soap opera.

I could hear when Shane woke up because Lisa gasped as soon as she saw him. I exited the kitchen to see if I could bail her out, but I knew Shane wouldn't be too hard on her. He might be the strict one of the gang, but he was still really nice.

I watched him as he sat down on the couch next to Lisa. "Kiddo, what did I tell you about opening all the presents before we got home?"

She pouted at him, but it didn't work. "I'm sorry, daddy."

He smiled at her, knowing she meant it. That was when I chose to interrupt their father-daughter moment and take out the plate of pancakes I'd just made, setting it on the dining room table.

Shane stood up and kissed me, and I kissed him back tenderly. "Morning," he said.

"Mmhmm," I said against his chest. He was hugging me by the waist, and I was enjoying our closeness.

-WTD-

When I got to work that morning, I saw the next issue of the magazine on my desk. The staff usually got the issue a couple of weeks before it hit the newsstand. I was really excited to see it, so I grabbed it and ran over to Caitlyn's desk, where I saw her sleeping with her head on the desk.

"Man, how long did you go at it last night?" I asked smirking at her.

She groaned and looked up. I showed her the magazine, and she grabbed hers excitedly. I sat on the edge of her desk and we looked through the magazine together, commenting on the things we liked or didn't like.

When I got to the article, I was grinning like a fool. That is, until I saw the beginning of it – something I had not written. I skimmed through the rest of the article and realized it was completely changed, and Shane's words had been twisted around completely.

_So that was what Vanessa meant when she said I had no say in this_, I thought, finally realizing how obvious this had been all-along. _Crap, crap, crap_, I repeated over and over in my head. Shane couldn't see this! He'd think I'd written that!

And I couldn't show him the magazine because it was in our contract. I could tell him about it, but I'm scared he won't believe me. The only thing I could do was go to Vanessa and complain, but would it work?

I still had to give it a shot. So I walked over to her office and knocked on the door determined to fix this. She opened the door, then narrowed her eyes at me.

"What do you want?" she said.

I shoved the magazine in her hands, open to the article. "That's not what I wrote."

"Tough luck, kid. That's the business. Either you do as I say or you leave the job." With that, she closed the door.

_Shit_, I thought. What am I going to do now?

--

**And there it is! Lovely drama we've all been waiting for. Right? Anyway, please review, and go check out my new stories and the trivia question! By the way, this episode features Kana's Mirror. She was the 100****th**** reviewer. Hopefully, we'll find out who the 150****th**** is with this chapter!**


	11. chapter 10

**Yay! Let's all cheer for the next Way Too Deep chapter! And don't worry, guys, the drama is just starting. I'm not going to say I'll do X amount of chapters because that doesn't work – I originally planned to do five chapters for this story, and look where we are now!**

**Anyway, I wanted to dedicate this chapter to my fanfiction buddies, Bonnie, Kana, Pyro, Angel, Katie, Andy and Bree, and for the most awesome reviewers I could get, especially blonde-gal, for all the great ideas she gives me. **

**And last but not least, for the reviewer that gave me an idea for the sequel – I won't say who or she'd know what it's going to be about. But as of today, there will be a sequel, and I doubt anything would happen to make me change my mind.**

**Okay, over and out.**

**--**

Chapter 10

**July 2013**

I stiffened automatically as I felt Shane's arm around my shoulders. It's been a week since my confrontation (if you can call it that) with Vanessa, and I still hadn't told Shane. Caitlyn was definitely frowning upon that, but she wasn't going to do anything because she knew it was none of her business.

We were watching a movie, he, Lisa and I, and I was still tense from hiding this from him. But at the same time, I was way too scared too tell him. I've always been the kind of person to keep my problems tucked away, hoping they'd leave, instead of just facing them.

"Is something wrong, Mitch?" he asked. I turned to look at him, and the gut-wrenching feeling returned. I shook my head, and he went back to watching the movie. We were watching that one Sponge Bob movie about Atlantis or whatever. It's really funny, but I'm not paying much attention. Or any, in fact.

Lisa was long asleep when the movie was over. She had her head on my lap, and I was running my hands through her long, soft hair. Shane looked really tired, too, and I was willing to bet that he was stressing over what was going on with Tess. I was still trying to figure out why she would abandon her daughter like that.

I stood up, careful not to wake up Lisa. Shane stood up abruptly when he realized I'd gotten up. He mumbled something, still half asleep, but figured out what I was doing and picked Lisa up, carrying her to her room. I followed him and helped get her in her PJs, then tucking her in. Shane kissed her forehead and we left the room.

I walked into his room and reached into the drawer I kept some clothes in, taking out my PJs. I was tired and I could tell Shane was too, so there wasn't going to be any lovin' tonight, if you know what I mean.

I brushed my teeth in the bathroom while Shane changed in his room, and we went to bed. I snuggled closer to him, resting my head on his chest, the position we usually slept in.

-WTD-

I woke up the next morning in an empty bed. Figures Shane would be Mr. Overachiever on the day I don't have to work. Whatever happened to sleeping in and having lazy days off?

Then again, that was hard to be achieved with a five-year-old in the house. I got up slowly, still drowsy. On my way to the kitchen, I saw Lisa in her room, still sleeping. Well, that was weird. I checked my watch to see what time it was. You can imagine my surprise when I saw it was only seven! I never, ever get up before nine if I can't help it.

I walked into the kitchen, where Shane was putting dishes away. I grabbed his hand and wordlessly dragged him out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. I crawled into the bed, and he chuckled bemusedly but humored me nonetheless, getting into bed after me.

I'd been sleeping peacefully when I felt someone else get into the bed. I looked up at Shane, who was wearing his glasses and reading a book. I then looked under the covers by my legs, where Lisa had crawled in. I laughed and placed her between Shane and I. She snuggled closer to me, and Shane smiled at her.

"Morning, kiddo," he said.

"Hi, daddy," she answered. She reached over him to his nightstand, where the remote for the TV was. Shane narrowed his eyes at her, but she ignored them and smiled at me. In turn, I smiled at Shane, who frowned but went back to his book. We really did have him wrapped around our finger, didn't we?

While Lisa watched TV and Shane read, I went back to sleep. I was still tired, and not being a morning person at all, it was going to take me a while to wake up.

Lisa woke me up a while later, jumping up and down on the bed. She was such a hyper little kid. She was saying something about Shane and pancakes and stuff, which of course, woke me up immediately.

I ran to the kitchen, kissed Shane's cheek quickly, served myself a cup of coffee and grabbed a pancake. Shane tried to slap my hand away, but I was faster and stuffed it into my mouth.

Shane was the most amazing cook ever. I would totally move in with them if it meant eating his food every day. Me, I might have inherited some cooking skills from my mom, but I was not a cooking prodigy at all.

-WTD-

The next couple of weeks went by quickly, and before I knew it, the magazine was hitting the newsstands the next day. It was one of those rare days that I was at my place without Shane and that Caitlyn was there without Nate, too.

I was pacing around the living room while Caitlyn surfed the web and read some fan fiction, her latest obsession. According to her, there were fan fics about everything, including some of my favorite shows, and some were really good. She was currently obsessed with this one girl's fan fics, pyrolyn or something like that. **(A/N: Love ya, FMG!)**

She wasn't paying much attention to me as I ranted nervously about the fast-approaching doomsday. I knew Shane was going to buy the magazine as soon as it came out, one, because he was supportive of me, and two, because the article was about him, after all.

By that night, the only coherent thoughts I managed to have were bad words, over and over and over. I think that was the only thing I was saying, too. I was stressing out to the point where I ate no dinner, and I'm a person with a big appetite.

Caitlyn seemed worried about me, and that's what she said when I accidentally woke her up at 3 AM.

"You know, not sleeping won't change anything," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her, not finding the humor in that.

"Look, I know you're really worried, okay? And you know I think you should've told Shane, because he was going to find out sooner or later. But you need to stop worrying about it and just explain to him as soon as possible." I decided she was right, and that I would call Shane in the morning, so I went to bed, feeling a bit better than I had before.

-WTD-

The first thing I did in the morning was get my cell phone and call Shane. But he didn't answer after a couple of rings, and I started panicking.

Could he have gotten the magazine already? That's when I noticed the time: it was 9 AM! I was up so late last night, I wasn't surprised, but I knew Shane was at the store already, and that he'd gotten the magazine on his way there.

Quickly throwing on an outfit, I ran out of the apartment, hyperventilating in my weird, silent way. I must've looked odd, muttering to myself, still with crazy bed head and clothes that didn't match at all. But the only thing I was aware of was getting to the store and explaining.

When I got there, I ran inside, expecting to see Shane, instead to be greeted by Mikey, the kid that worked mornings there.

"Where's Shane?" I asked breathlessly.

"He said he had to do something. He looked kind of mad," Mikey answered.

I left the store quickly, dialing his number on my cell phone. When he didn't answer again, I threw the cell phone in my bag, getting more and more worried. But I knew what I had to do now, and I headed to the office.

Once at the office, I stormed to Vanessa's office, ignoring anyone who said hi or asked about my appearance. Not bothering to knock the door, I entered the room quickly, and before Vanessa could say something, I yelled: "I quit!", throwing an issue of the magazine I'd picked up on my way on her desk.

--

**Whew. That wasn't an amazing chapter, but it took me a while. I hope you guys like!**


	12. chapter 11

**Okay, first order of business. I LOVE THE JONAS BROTHERS! I had to say it. I'm trying to think straight so I can write this for you guys. So forgive me if this chapter sucks, hehe. But I still love and it's what counts, right?**

**The other thing is that we have 18 more reviews (as of right now) until we get to 200! Seriously, guys? 200? The sequel better get more! Just kidding. But that would be nice. Anyway, yes, that's the other thing. It's now official; there's gonna be a sequel. But only a few privileged people have read the teaser I wrote for it. But no worries, as soon as I'm done with WTD, the teaser's going up on my profile. Oh, and this chapter features smileyJONASx3 as Vanessa (the new one)  
**

**--**

Chapter 11

Since that horrible day that the magazine came out and Shane read my article, I'd figured out a lot of things. One, I was depressed. It's been a while since that's happened, so it felt weird, but hey, I had to come to terms with it. Two, I was not a moping depressed. The day the magazine came out (from now on referred to as D-Day) Caitlyn came back from work with chick flicks and an unlimited supply of ice cream and chocolate, but she was surprised to see me cleaning the place. And I never clean. And three, I have to do something HUGE to get Shane to forgive me. But what can I do?

The first thing I should do, as Caitlyn pointed out, was get a job. She was right, too, but luckily, that wasn't very hard seeing as I'd become quite known around the journalism circles as the girl with the Shane Gray story. But surprisingly enough, the word had also gotten out about how Vanessa changed my story and I quit the magazine. And apparently, that meant that a lot of reporters looked up to me, because _no one_ ever quits on Vanessa.

But hey, I did. And you know what? It felt great! Anyway, on with the story. People had been hearing about me because of what I did, and a magazine called me to tell me they wanted to offer me a job as a columnist. It was a weekly magazine, so it'd be more work than what I was used to, but I didn't care. This magazine was known for never printing any lies, unlike Pop Informer, so as soon as I heard the offer, I said yes. It was too great an offer to pass up, anyway.

It all worked out nicely, I think. I went to their office for a job interview, sort of, and they told me the job was mine if I wanted it and this was just standard procedure. And so I got a new job and got started on putting my life back together, and planning on how to get Shane back.

Yeah, I'm not an idiot. I know he's too amazing to just let go, and I really don't intend to. It might be impossible, but I will get him back – that I'm sure of.

It was one day at the office I thought of what I was going to do. I'd been working on my first column, when it hit me how much different things were here. I could write about what I wanted, and they wouldn't mind, as long as it was good. Yes, it was an entertainment magazine, but what I had in mind wasn't too far from that.

I almost ran to my editor's office, excited to share my idea with her. She was so nice compared to Vanessa, I was sure she wouldn't mind.

"Hi, Vanessa!" I said as I walked in. Yes, her name was Vanessa, too.

"Hey, Mitchie, what's up?" she asked, not looking at me, too busy typing on her computer.

"Well, I wanted to run something by you," I started. "You see, I was thinking…"

-WTD-

The rest of the week was spent working on my column. Nate and Caitlyn were still spending all their free time together, which meant I had a lot of time to spend working on the article even after work. Yes, I was giving a hundred percent for this – Shane deserved as much.

A day before deadline, I printed the column, happy with the results. This had to work, or I would… Well, I don't know what I'd do, but I'd do something. Something drastic.

I read over the column once more just to make sure I had no mistakes. It all seemed perfect.

_Way Too Deep: Weekly Column by Micaela Torres_

_When I first sat down to write this, it took me about three hours to get just this one sentence. But once I got into it, I was on a roll, and this was what came out. I'm sure most of you have read my interview with Shane Gray on Pop Informer, and I'd like to tell you all that I didn't write that. Not one word in that article is mine, because my former editor, Vanessa Kirkham, took my interview and changed it around completely._

_I could you could say this is a public apology to Shane Gray. It is, actually. And in a way, it might be a huge mistake, but there's no other way of doing this. Shane Gray and I dated. Yes, people, I was Shane Gray's girlfriend. And being Shane's girlfriend was the best thing that's happened to me in several years, which is why I don't want to lose it._

_Shane, I love you. It took me until I lost you to realize that, but I do. I love you with all my heart, and letting Vanessa change my story… Well, I didn't let her and I had no say in it, _

_but I should've told you. Deep down, I knew you would get the magazine because it's your interview, and even if it wasn't, you'd be supporting me. _

_I should've told you, but I was scared. Scared this would change the perfect relationship we had, scared it would ruin it forever. I realize now that not telling you was what ruined it, but I didn't know that then, or I didn't want to admit it._

_The point is, Shane, I'm sorry. And I hope you can forgive me._

-WTD-

The article did really well, and sales rocketed when people found out I dated Shane. I wasn't quite so famous yet, but people recognized me in the streets because columns usually come with a mug shot, so everyone who read it knew what I looked like.

I was still depressed, but I didn't stop being productive. Caitlyn quit her job at Pop Informer and got a job at a very famous music magazine, thanks to good Vanessa's help. She and Nate would hang out with me at the apartment sometimes, and Jason and Martin even joined us a couple of times. Kana was always coming by, because she knew me the best, and knew I was going to need her later on.

One night, we were hanging out at our place, when the doorbell rang. Assuming it was the pizza we ordered, I grabbed my wallet on my way to open the door, but the pizza delivery guy wasn't the one behind the door – it was Shane.

--

**Forgive this chapter's suckiness, but it's five thirty in the morning and I couldn't sleep without writing this. See how much I love you?**

**Please review, and hey, we're almost done! Personally, I'm a big fan of chapters that are all fluff once the drama's over, so tell me if you want that or just an end chapter, epilogue, and then sequel. The sequel would be coming anyways, just so you know. But it's your choice. And come on, reviewer 200****th****! I know you're there somewhere!**


	13. chapter 12

**I love you guys so, so much! As of now, WTD has 218 reviews, which is a lot more than I ever expected. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and without any further ado, here's the last chapter of Way Too Deep! Now excuse me as I go off and cry in a corner. **

**--**

Chapter 12

**July 2013**

I opened the door wider so Shane could step in, but I was still speechless. He stepped in, and as soon as he did, noticed everyone in the living room – I guess he hadn't thought we'd be hanging out. They all said hi, then went back to what they were doing. I turned to Shane, not knowing what to say, but noticed both Nate and Caitlyn looking at us, so I ushered him out of the apartment, closing the door behind me.

"Already kicking me out?" he said with a sheepish smile. I chose not to answer, instead looking at him expectantly. "Listen, Mitchie, I just wanted to apologize for not letting you explain. I should've answered one of the fifty times you called," I grimaced at this, having forgotten I called him so much.

Before he could keep going, I said, "No, Shane, it's not your fault. I should've told you as soon as I found out instead of hiding it from you. I should've explained what happened, but I was scared of what you'd think, and I was really, really stupid, and I'm so, so sorry, you have no idea how sorry I am, and I wish I'd told you before but I didn't and know you-" I was interrupted abruptly by Shane's lips on mine. I couldn't help but chuckle lightly – I always thought it'd be incredibly romantic if someone interrupted my rambling with a kiss. And it is.

Without thinking, I put my arms around his neck, bringing him closer to me. I was oblivious to everything around me except for Shane – that is, until I could hear loud cheering from inside the apartment.

I pulled away, telling Shane to be quiet. The cheering had stopped suddenly. Shane looked at me, puzzled, but I just kissed him again. Then, the cheering started again. We pulled away, and it stopped. This was like something out of a TV show.

I grabbed Shane's hand and walked back inside with him. Caitlyn, Nate, Jason, Marti and Kana were standing by the living room door, all with big smiles on their faces.

"Hey, guys," I said. They all waved, still smiling. I love my friends, but weren't we going to get some privacy? Shane and I still had some things to talk about. "So now that you saw us kissing and all, would you mind watching the movie while Shane and I try to talk?"

Caitlyn was the first to go back to the living room. Nate followed her, and soon enough, it was only the two of us. I took Shane's hand again, heading for my room. If we went out of the apartment, they'd probably watch us again.

Once inside my room, I sat down on the bed and patted the space beside me. Shane sat down, and I started my explanation.

-WTD-

I was lucky enough to have the most comprehending boyfriend ever – Shane listened to my story and said he believed me and that he understood.

"So how did you read the column?" I asked. I never really thought about how Shane might have come across the article, I just hoped he would.

"Well, it was actually thanks to Lisa," he began. "She was playing at her friend Nicole's house, and her mom was reading the magazine. I guess she left it open on the table or something, because Lisa saw your picture, and according to Nicole's mom, said 'That's my daddy's girlfriend'. Lisa told Nicole and her mom everything about us, apparently, and Nicole's mom let Lisa take the magazine home to show me. And well, I read it, and I came over as soon as I did."

I smiled, thinking how meant-to-be it was if that was how he found the magazine. It couldn't be any more perfect, could it? I kissed him, and he kissed me back eagerly.

"I missed you," he whispered against my neck.

"I missed you more," I said. He pulled back, and smirked.

"No, you didn't," he said, and then kissed me again.

I stopped the kiss, competitiveness kicking in. "Yes, I did."

He frowned at me. "No, you didn't."

"You know, we can keep going for hours, but in the end, I still missed you more." I said.

"Nuh-uh," he said. He resumed the kiss, assuming I was done arguing.

"Hey! You were the one ignoring me!" I said. He chuckled, and I wondered how he found this funny.

"So? It still killed me," he said matter-of-factly.

I was determined on winning this argument, but Shane was just as stubborn as me. "But it killed me more."

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Well, you were mad at me. So I was the one worrying if you'd ever forgive me."

"Okay, but I was the one who thought his girlfriend had written that hurtful article," he said.

I frowned. Okay, maybe we weren't getting anywhere. I kissed him, and he smiled at me, argument forgotten.

We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. We didn't really have to say anything, and just being together again was amazing.

He interrupted the silence with a question, "When you said you loved me… Did you really mean it? Or was it just something to make the article sound better?"

I looked at him incredulously. "Do you really think I'd write something just to make the article sound better?"

He shook his head, and I continued. "I really do love you, you know? The past two months have been… Well, amazing. I'm glad I accidentally emailed that story to the whole staff, or I wouldn't have gotten your interview, and I wouldn't have met you and… Well, you know the rest."

Instead of answering, he kissed me again. Boy, even if we argued about who missed who the most, I still did miss him, and a lot. I kissed him back, and well, we kissed for a while. But at some point, our wonderful friends had to interrupt us, right?

"Mitchie!" Caitlyn called, walking into my room. She covered her eyes, and Nate, who was behind her, laughed. We weren't having wild, passionate sex or anything, just making out. And okay, his shirt was slightly undone. And yeah, my shirt was halfway off. But that was it, I swear!

"We just wanted to tell you guys the pizza's here. We figured you'd be hungry," Nate said with a smirk.

I stood up and tugged on my shirt, while Shane fixed his. "Sure, let's go."

We went to the living room, where Jason, Marti and Kana were eating pizza and watching the movie.

"What movie is this?" said Shane, grabbing a piece of pizza. I grabbed one and sat down next to Shane, who put his free arm around my shoulders.

"It's called Cloverfield," Kana answered. She was half-watching the movie, half-reading a magazine. She wasn't a big fan of scary movies, so she was probably feeling a bit out of her element.

I watched, but since we'd gotten there, I didn't understand much. It seemed pretty scary, too, so I spent more time looking at Shane, who'd seen the movie before, but loved it. It was about some kind of alien or something attacking New York, and frankly, I wasn't very excited to see the city I live in being destroyed.

By the end of the movie, Kana, Marti and I were talking about good movies we'd see, while the guys and Caitlyn watched the movie. It was pretty late when Marti, Jason and Kana left, and Caitlyn and Nate left soon after, saying they were just going to stay at his place.

Once they were all gone, I turned to Shane. "I love you, you know?"

He smiled, hugging me by the waist. "I know. And I love you, too," he said.

I grinned widely. Sure, I wasn't the kind of depressed person that moped around, but depressed is depressed, and now I wasn't depressed. Could things get any better?

"Where's Lisa?" I asked, realizing just now Shane never mentioned where she was.

"She's staying at Nicole's house. I took her on my way here and promised Nicole's mom I'd give her an autographed copy of Play My Music if she let her stay. She used to be a Connect 3 fan, so it worked," he explained.

"Ooh, can I go with you to pick her up in the morning?" I asked. I was in the bathroom, washing my teeth, and Shane was getting into bed. Even though we'd been broken up for a week, I still had some of his stuff in my apartment, and he had some of mine at his.

"Sure," he said. He opened a book, and I gave up on the conversation. Once he started reading, I'd only get one-word answers.

I crawled into bed and snuggled up against him. He kissed my forehead, and I went to sleep with my head on Shane's chest, the feeling of loneliness I'd had for the past week finally gone.

-WTD-

The next morning, I woke up before Shane, which was very unusual. I got up and went into the kitchen to make some coffee and see what we could have for breakfast. After rummaging around the cupboards, I put some toast in the toaster, and leaned against the counter taking little sips of my coffee. Shane walked into the kitchen, served himself some coffee, and kissed my cheek.

"Morning, sleepyhead," I said.

He took the toast out, put it in some plates, grabbed the butter, and took everything to the table. I followed him, glad we were back to normal.

After eating breakfast, we went to pick up Lisa. As soon as Nicole's mom opened the door, Lisa came out running afterwards and hugged me tightly.

"Mitchie!" she exclaimed. "You're back! I knew daddy wasn't mad at you!"

I hugged her back, happy to see her. Lisa was part of my relationship with Shane, and I wouldn't have it any other way. "I missed you, Lisa."

She ignored my comment completely. "We can have another sleepover! And watch a lot of movies, and play with my dolls, and you can take me to the park, and we can go to the toy store again, and-" she was interrupted by Shane, who took her hand and led her to the elevator, handing me her things.

"Kiddo, I know you're excited to see Mitchie, but you need to calm down, okay?" Lisa nodded meekly, then hugged me again. I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheek.

After leaving Nicole's building, we went to Shane's, to drop off Lisa's things. Shane wanted to take us both out to lunch. We headed to the pizza place where Marti worked, where Lisa and I first met.

Marti was working the lunch shift, so we said hi to her and sat down at a table. Shane got up, saying he had to go to the bathroom, but neither one of us paid attention to him, being too busy with our game of tic-tac-toe. Lisa may only be five years old, but she really was good at that game.

"Mitchie?" Lisa asked after winning another game.

"What's up?" I said.

"Are you going to be my new mommy?" she asked. When I heard her say this, I didn't know what to say, but I knew I had to answer anyway.

"You already have a mommy, Lisa," I said.

"Yeah, I know," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "But I never see her, and she doesn't act like my mommy. All she does is talk on the phone or tell me to go play with my dolls."

I smiled sadly. "Well, if you want, I can be your other mommy, okay?" Lisa nodded. "I'm never going to be your real mom, though, and you need to remember that."

That was when Shane decided to come back to the table, interrupting our little moment. Lisa and I went back to our game and Shane watched us amusedly until the pizza got there.

-WTD-

We headed back to Shane's apartment that afternoon, after agreeing that Lisa and I should have a sleepover. Shane went to the grocery store to get us ice cream and chocolate (against his will, but he went) and Lisa and I went to Blockbuster to get some movies.

After our outing, Shane was about to move the TV to Lisa's room so we could watch there, when Lisa stopped him.

"Daddy, do you wanna have the sleepover with us?" she asked. I stifled a laugh, and Shane frowned at me.

"It's fine, kiddo. You guys can have your sleepover, I don't mind. I have plenty of books to read," he said.

"Do you realize you sound more pathetic now?" I asked, laughing. "But she's right, you can have the sleep over with us." As I said this, I raised my eyebrows playfully.

"Yeah, daddy, we want you to stay!" Lisa said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back into the room.

Lisa sat on the couch, next to Shane, and I started the movie. It was one of those Barbie movies, and I knew Shane wanted to groan really badly, but he didn't. I sat next to Shane, and put my head on his chest, while Lisa did the same on his other side. He put his arms around us, and smiled.

"My girls," he said. Then, the movie started, and we both shushed him.

--

**So, that's it. I swear I cried a little as I wrote that last sentence. Of course, there's going to be an epilogue, and then the much-awaited sequel (I hope it's much-awaited!). But this is the last chapter of WTD, so I'm kind of shocked. It's only been two weeks since I started the story, and it's changed a lot from the original product, but I'm happy. This is it for my author's note, though, because the epilogue's will be much longer.**


	14. epilogue

**Don't worry; long author's note is at the end. Just enjoy the epilogue!**

**--**

Epilogue

It's been five months since I met Shane, three months since the article came out, and a month since I moved in with Shane and Lisa permanently, and things couldn't get better.

My column is doing really well in the magazine. I think it has a lot to do with me dating Shane Gray, but Shane says that it has more to do with how talented I am. We'll see, I guess. I love my new job, though. I get to talk about whatever I want and be totally truthful about it, no need to worry about evil Vanessa's changing my articles.

Lisa just started kindergarten, and you should've seen her dad's face when we dropped her off at school. Lisa, who had already made friends, skipped off to play with them, while I tried to drag Shane away from the door. Needless to say, it was more painful for her dad than for her.

Nate and Caitlyn broke up last month because of how stubborn they both are, but they got together the day after. They're still together now, and they say they understand how we feel now, having been separated. I usually roll my eyes when I hear them say this, but I'm still happy for my friends.

Marti was offered an internship in Europe for the semester, but she and Jason are still together. They said, and I quote: "We refuse to let 2000 or something miles come between us." She's coming home just in time for Christmas, and Jason's giving her a puppy that Kana was taking care of for now.

Kana, who's majoring in Photography, is now showing her work at a gallery, and getting incredible feedback from it. See, I knew giving her that camera for her 15th birthday was a good idea! She loves what she does, and she's happy – she even has a photographer boyfriend! Imagine my little cousin with a boyfriend… It makes me want to pinch her cheek, hehe.

All in all, my life couldn't be better. Shane and I are still going strong, Lisa's growing up every day – she gets taller and cuter every day – and my friends are all happy, too. Who knew all this would've come out of that one stupid story I sent to everyone on the staff by accident? I sure didn't!

--

**Man, that's it. I know the prologue's short, and some of you were expecting fluffiness, but I wanted it to explain how everything's changed. Don't worry, the sequel will be plenty fluffy, hehe. **

**Wow, I can't believe it's over. This is the first multi-chapter story I've ever finished, and sharing it with you guys couldn't have been better. You all were amazing readers and reviewers, and I can't even start to explain how much it all means to me.**

**I really wanna thank a few specific people. No, I'm not saying I like you guys any less, but these girls have helped me so much with my stories, they deserve all the attention in the world – here's to Kana's Mirror, pyrolyn-776, Brassen and D R O W N-I N-S E Q U I N S! I can't thank them enough for their friendship and support. Yes, I'm all touchy-feely, but hey, I can do it, right?**

**One extremely important person I owe a lot to, even if not in this story, is my cousin Cata. She's the most amazing person ever and I love her a ton. And besides, I always said that the first book I wrote I'd dedicate to her, so even if this isn't a book, she deserves to be mentioned. Te quiero mucho, Catita!**

**Okay, next up, I wanna thank blonde-gal for all her awesome reviews, her help and suggestions, Andy the Christmas Tree for always making me smile and SweetSerenityPeacexRose because she signs all her reviews as 'your fan' which is weird but still so cool!**

**And last but not least, I wanna thank DramaticStarlet, pr0udpnaii x33, DevilPup and green and yellow, for not only being incredibly nice but also for having amazing stories that often get me out of ruts I'm in when writing this. Of course, I also have to mention how pr0udpnaii x33 and I are co-writing a story (it's in my profile, people!) and besides being an amazing co-author, she's really nice and someone to talk about the boys with, hehe. **

**Done now. Thank you if you read the story, thank you if you've read my other stories, and an extra big thank you if you read this entire thing!**


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